


I Will Follow You (To the End)

by Eccentric_Reader



Series: I Will Follow You (To The End) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mutual Pining, Rape/Non-con Elements, Romance, Young Andromeda Black Tonks, Young Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Young Narcissa Black Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 88,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Reader/pseuds/Eccentric_Reader
Summary: AU where Bellatrix is born at the same time as the Golden Trio.Or: A Bellamione au in which Bellatrix and Hermione plot (and maybe kiss a little), Harry and Ron are clueless, and Ginny is just here for a good time.
Relationships: Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange & Narcissa Black Malfoy & Andromeda Black Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange & Pansy Parkinson, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger & Andromeda Black Tonks, Hermione Granger & Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Minerva McGonagall & Severus Snape
Series: I Will Follow You (To The End) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981972
Comments: 257
Kudos: 646





	1. Part 1: Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T for mild language, some mature themes, etc.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, or any of the characters/ settings seen in this story.

Part 1: Chapter 1:

“Mum! Dad! Come on, we’ve got to go!”

“Just one moment, dear, dad’s getting your trunk!”

Hermione tapped her foot impatiently at the foot of the stairs, dashing out to the car the second they came downstairs, her dad carrying the heavy trunk.

The ride to King’s Cross was a tense one- Hermione was on the edge of her seat nearly the whole time, running scenarios through her head. What if she couldn’t make friends? What if she was extremely behind on information? What if people laughed at her, like they had in her primary school, for her bushy hair and overly long front teeth? What if she was sorted into Slytherin, the supposed ‘bad house’? What if there had been some horrible mistake, and she couldn’t actually do magic? No, that was silly, she thought, I’ve already done some magic, just to make sure….

“Alright, Hermione. We’re here.” 

Her parents, Hermione noticed, looked just as nervous as she felt. This was the first time she was going to be away from them for more than a week, and she would be at a magical school, no less. Hermione had kept her discoveries of several deaths at Hogwarts over the years to herself, knowing her parents would seriously reconsider their decision to let her go if they knew. She knew she wouldn’t want her child going to a strange school with moving staircases, a forest full of dangerous creatures, and a giant squid living in the lake. 

She walked in between them on the way to the platform (Platform 9 ¾- accessed by running at a wall, a fitting way to get to this more than questionable school). Looking around, she could see no other families carrying large trunks, and worried for a moment that she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time- but no, she had checked her ticket a hundred times, King’s Cross Station at 11:00, platform 9 ¾. 

Still, Hermione had always been one to worry, and was immensely relieved when she spotted a family of 5 walk through the wall in pairs, the last one pushing a trolley in front of her, a regal owl perched on top of the trunk.

Her parents also relaxed at this, at the confirmation that this wasn’t all one big elaborate trick to get them to run at a wall like idiots. Her dad readied the trolley, and they all ran at the wall, arm in arm.

There was a moment when Hermione panicked, not really expecting to be able to go through, but then she passed right through the seemingly solid wall, and emerged on a bustling platform with the sign “Platform 9 ¾” right above her head.

There were still 15 minutes before the train would leave, so her parents took the time to give her a quick hug, telling her to write as often as she could with one of the school’s owls, instructing her to mind her professors, and, finally, a whispered “make some friends” from her mother. Her father helped her get her trunk into a compartment, and she found an empty spot on the train.

She shyly watched as other students filed onto the train, fascinated when she saw all of the strange outfits and catching the odd snippet of conversation about things she’d never even heard of.

Minutes before the train departed, a round faced boy came peeking into her compartment. “Er- d’you mind if I sit here?”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Hermione said, happy to have someone to sit with. “What’s your name?”

“Neville Longbottom. Are you a first year too?”

Hermione nodded. “I’m Hermione Granger.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before launching into a discussion about Hogwarts. Neville looked increasingly more panicked when she started talking about how she’d already mastered a few spells- his Gran, apparently, hadn’t allowed him to so much as touch his wand. They talked about Houses, classes, families, and had just gotten around to Quidditch when a kindly woman opened their compartment door and offered them sweets. Hermione, who had a small allowance of Wizarding money, bought a small amount of several things, curious to find out what they were. Neville grabbed a couple of pumpkin pasties and Drooble’s Best Chewing Gum, and they dove into the small pile.

When they were nearly done, Neville groaned in dismay. “I’ve lost Trevor again!”

“Who?”

“My toad! He’s always escaping, he must’ve hopped out when the door opened!”

“Are you sure he’s not in here?”

They spent several minutes searching through the compartment, checking and double checking pockets, trunks, and under the seats, before confirming that Trevor was, indeed, not in there.

“Well, we’ll just have to ask around the train,” Hermione sighed. 

“We’ll never be able to get through the whole thing!” Neville groaned.

“We can split up. We’re about in the middle- you go left, I’ll go right. That way we’ll cover more ground.”

Neville looked reluctant to wander about the train on his own, but seemed desperate enough to find Trevor. “Okay. Thanks, Hermione.”

“No problem. Come find me if you find him.”

And so, Hermione started making her way through the train, making sure to check along the floors. Part of her suspected that Trevor had followed the trolley full of food, so she thought she might have more luck than Neville, who was travelling in the opposite direction.

She ran into a couple of first years along the way. One group, made up of very friendly looking people, told her that they would come find her immediately if they were to find the toad. The next, two boys sitting alone in a compartment, were particularly unhelpful, and she was unimpressed until she realized one of them was Harry Potter after she fixed his glasses. 

The compartment that made the worst impression, however, was a little after halfway through her search. A very well dressed group of 4 was snacking on an impressive array of sweets, and a pug faced girl laughed in her face when she asked if they’d seen a toad. “If we saw a toad, we’d throw it out of the compartment faster than you can say ‘pathetic’,” said the one boy, who looked like he was trying desperately to look as adult as possible (and was failing horribly). 

A black haired girl tutted. She actually tutted at him. They were eleven, for goodness sake! “Theodore, don’t be a prat. Perhaps it isn’t hers.” And she fixed her with a look that made it clear she would be thrown out of the compartment immediately if it was, in fact, her toad.

“Of course it’s not mine, it’s my friend Neville’s-”

“Ha! Neville Longbottom?!” shrieked the pug faced girl. “Oh, that’s rich, that is, that family’s really gone to the dogs now-”

“More like the toads-” remarked a brown haired girl.

“-Augusta’s definitely losing it, if she’s gotten her grandson a toad-”

They continued their bashing of the Longbottoms, and Hermione took this as her cue to leave, as they clearly wouldn’t help her if they had seen a toad. She never thought anyone could be so rude.

After searching the rest of the compartments, she went back to where she had started, hoping Neville had had better luck. However, he was waiting for her at the compartment with empty hands.

“The people on this train were wildly unhelpful,” Hermione sighed, sitting down opposite him. “One group laughed at me the second I mentioned the word toad.”

“I didn’t have a much better time. Especially when I told them it was mine. No one actually laughed at me, though- that must’ve been a rude sort of group.”

“They seemed to find it terribly funny when I told them that it was your toad. I left when they started talking trash about your family.”

Neville’s face turned an interesting shade of red. “What did they say?”

“Well, that your grandmother was losing it and that the family had gone to the dogs- I left after that, so I didn’t hear the rest.”

He looked strangely relieved. “D’you know who they were?”

“No. They seemed like a bunch of- of Slytherins, and they were all dressed in these expensive looking clothes, and they just seemed horrible,” she told him.

“First years?”

“Yes. Four of them. Only one didn’t join in with the others about your family, she looked rather uncomfortable, actually.” 

“Well, maybe she’s alright.”

“No. She was just as mean as the rest of them about the toad, maybe she just didn’t like talking about people’s families?”

Neville frowned, and shrugged. “I dunno. We should probably get dressed soon- seems like we’re almost there.”

Hermione glanced out the window, and, sure enough, it was late afternoon already. She left the compartment so Neville could change, and then switched- this was the first time she was wearing her Hogwarts robes (or any robes, really) and they felt strange, but comfortable.

A large man gathered them together at the platform, before bringing them across a lake that had looked quite a bit smaller in the pictures she’d found in books. She was starting to get very nervous- she’d been unable to find anything regarding the sorting, and had no idea what to expect- what if she was unprepared?

The castle was absolutely magnificent, and Hermione allowed herself a moment of complete awe before beginning to panic again. How was she ever going to navigate that?

McGonagall met them at the door, leading them through a giant entrance hall, and telling them to wait in a side chamber. Hermione was starting to get very nervous, and was muttering all of the spells she knew of under her breath.

“That’s not going to help you, you know,” came a snide voice from behind her.

Hermione whirled around to find the black haired girl from earlier. Throughout the train ride and subsequent trip across the lake, her hair had become incredibly unruly. She was smaller up close, and her eyes were a bit too big for her face.

“Well, what is going to help?” Hermione demanded, a bit irritably.

“Nothing. My father told me no one’s allowed to know what they’re going to do before they go in, but that it was ridiculously easy. Didn’t your parents tell you what to expect?” 

“My parents didn’t go to Hogwarts, they’re muggles.”

“Oh. No wonder.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Well, you clearly have no idea what’s going on. My father says that mudbloods shouldn’t have a place in our school because they’re stealing magic.”

“What’s a mudblood?”

“A muggleborn. Someone like you. I bet you won’t be able to do the simplest magic,” the girl said haughtily.

“I’ll have you know I can already do quite a few spells,” Hermione shot back. “Who are you, anyway, to judge other people by who their parents are?”

“I am of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, for your information, muddy. And those probably aren’t real spells you’re doing in that little hovel of yours in the muggle world, when we get to classes you’ll probably be dreadfully behind.”

“I’ll be top of the class, just you wait,” Hermione said. “And-” She was cut off by shrieks from the rest of the students. She looked up and saw a dozen ghostly figures drifting in through the wall, and her eyes widened slightly, even though she’d read Hogwarts, A History and knew that there were ghosts at Hogwarts. 

She tuned out their conversation about some Peeves person and glanced nervously at the door McGonagall had disappeared through and tapped her foot.

“Why so tense, muddy? Afraid you’re not going to be able to get sorted?”

“I’m not afraid of anything. And my name is Hermione Granger.”

“So?”

“So, call me that.”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

Hermione ground her teeth. “If you hate me so much, why are you talking to me?”

“I don’t hate you. I just think it’s rather pretentious, acting like you know so much about magic.”

“I probably know more than you.”

The girl opened her mouth to reply, but was stopped by the sudden arrival of Professor McGonagall. Hermione swallowed nervously, and then went with the crowd into the Great Hall.

It was rather overwhelming, with the scores of faces looking at them, and the vast ceiling, bewitched to look like the night sky just like she’d read about in Hogwarts, A History. Up at the front of the hall, there was a table where all of the professors sat, and in front of them was a stool with a ratty old hat on top. When they got to this stool, Professor McGonagall turned to face them.

Hermione waited with bated breath, only vaguely registering that the annoying girl was leaning on her to keep her balance as she stood on tiptoes to peer at the hat. Then, the hat opened something that looked quite like a mouth and started to sing:

Oh you may not think I’m pretty  
But don’t judge on what you see  
I’ll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me  
You can keep your bowlers black  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all  
There’s nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can’t see  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart  
You might belong in Hufflepuff  
Where they are just and loyal  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw  
If you’ve a ready mind  
Where those of wit and learning   
Will always find their kind  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You’ll make your real friends  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends  
So put me on! Don’t be afraid!  
And don’t get in a flap!  
You’re in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I’m a thinking cap!

The first years stood gaping at the hat while the rest of the hall cheered. That’s it?! thought Hermione, we just have to put on a hat? Behind her, Ron Weasley was going on about how Fred had told him they had to fight a troll.

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” said Professor McGonagall, holding a roll of parchment. “Abbott, Hannah!”

A girl walked up to the stool, sat down, and put the hat on. It slipped over her eyes. She sat there for a moment before the hat called, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

“The weak house,” her least favorite person grumbled. She was still leaning on Hermione, straining to see over the other’s heads.

“Will you get off?” Hermione asked, to no avail.

“Black, Bellatrix.”

Bellatrix? Hermione watched as the nuisance of a girl strutted up to the school, albeit on shaky legs. There were murmurs throughout the hall, and a table with a bunch of mean looking students wearing green robes muttered among themselves smugly.

“Obviously, she’ll be in Slytherin. All Blacks are, after all, except that Sirius, but he got disowned-”

“Quiet, Theodore.”

Hermione should’ve figured Bellatrix would be sorted into Slytherin- she was currently making a show of swooping up the hat and taking a seat on the stool in a rather indifferent manner. Staring out arrogantly at the hall, she plopped the hat onto her head. This sort of ruined her show of superiority, because Bellatrix was so small that the hat covered half of her face.

There were murmurs in the hall when the hat did not immediately call out Slytherin- and the table in question was starting to look uneasy. Bellatrix was frowning, looking like she was arguing with the hat about something (Hermione wouldn’t have been surprised if she was). After a solid 3 minutes, during which the entire hall fell completely silent, the hat called out, “SLYTHERIN!” 

Relief was evident on Bellatrix’s face, along with something that looked a lot like shame. 

Professor McGonagall got through several more names, until finally she called up, “Granger, Hermione.”

Taking a shaky breath, she walked up and put the hat on her head. 

There was a small voice in her ear: “Well, what do we have here? There’s clear potential for Ravenclaw, certainly a very smart girl-”

I suppose I wouldn’t mind Ravenclaw, Hermione thought to herself. But I’d much prefer Gryffindor….

“Gryffindor, eh? I can see that- brave enough, certainly, it would be a good fit as well- it’s not unheard of, you know, a smart Gryffindor- well, if you’re sure-

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Hermione, grinning, took the hat off her head and headed towards the Gryffindor table, which had exploded with cheers.

Some older students shook her hand, and, smiling, and certainly feeling much better than she had a few minutes ago, she turned to watch the rest of the sorting.


	2. Part 1: Chapter 2

**Part 1: Chapter 2:**

“Malfoy, Draco!”

Bellatrix watched as Malfoy walked up to the stool. The moment the hat touched his head, it called, “SLYTHERIN!”

_ Oh, sure _ , Bellatrix thought,  _ Draco gets sorted in near record time. And that stupid hat had the audacity to spend nearly 3 minutes talking to me. 3 minutes! That’s even longer than Sirius’s, and he was a family disgrace. If father ever finds out…. _

Needless to say, Bellatrix did not want to think about what her father would do if he found out. And she had no doubt he would- word travelled extraordinarily fast in pureblood society, after all. She wondered if he would send a Howler, like Aunt Walburga had done for her son.  _ No, he’s more subtle than that. _

She still couldn’t believe the nerve of that hat, and she fumed about it silently as Pansy Parkinson was sorted almost immediately into Slytherin. It simply did not understand, that was all. Every respectable pureblood went to Slytherin house. That was just how it worked. Instead, the  _ stupid hat _ had wanted to put her in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and even bloody Gryffindor before she could convince it to put her in Slytherin. She understood Ravenclaw- she’d always been smart, ( _ smarter than the Granger girl _ , she thought snidely), and she supposed she was rather fiery, making her a good candidate for Gryffindor- but she was a Black! Blacks did not get sorted into anything other than Slytherin! 

Except for Sirius, of course. But he didn’t count, according to father. No one counted if they’d been blasted off the tree.

“Potter, Harry.”

_ Potter? Did she just say Potter? _ Bellatrix strained to get a glimpse of the boy with jet black hair before the hat slid over his eyes. 

The whole hall waited with bated breath, even though it was rather obvious where he would go. He was Harry Potter! But the hat took it’s sweet time about it- people were starting to mutter about how the hat was certainly taking people by surprise this year, after all,  _ Bellatrix _ had taken so long, and now Harry bloody Potter was on his way to becoming a hat stall…

But he didn’t, as the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR”, and the whole table erupted into cheers and calls of “We got Potter! We got Potter!”, and Bellatrix watched him sit near  _ Hermione Granger _ , who had taken a perfectly reasonable time to get sorted, the bloody mudblood, unlike herself.

Bellatrix sulked as the sorting continued, only stopping to snort as “Weasley, Ronald” was sorted into Gryffindor, just like the rest of his bloody family, because apparently even  _ Ronald Weasley _ could get sorted quicker than she had.

Finally,  _ finally _ , the Sorting finished (she was quite hungry), and the Headmaster got up to talk. Bellatrix’s father had talked quite a bit about Dumbledore- he called him a “muggle-loving fool” (he called a lot of people that, actually), though Bellatrix thought privately that he looked rather nice.

“Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!”

Bellatrix added the word “crazy” to her assessment of the man, and was rather surprised when she looked down and saw the magnificent feast spread out on the table. She’d barely had anything on the train, so she grabbed a large plate and began to eat.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Bellatrix dragged herself out of bed, excited for classes but all the same wanting to stay in her warm, soft, comfortable bed for the rest of eternity. 

It took her 15 minutes to get to the Great Hall- quite pathetic, really, considering how close it was to the dungeons. But, hey, the castle was bloody huge and confusing and it was far too early in the morning to be thinking.

She made her way through her day, where Flitwick, a tiny little man, was so excited by  _ Harry bloody Potter _ that he fell off of his stack of books. There was quite a lot of information to be absorbed, and Bellatrix’s head was whirling.

And then came the worst part of it all.

Their first Transfiguration class, and Professor McGonagall impressed them all with advanced magic, taught them about some basic Transfiguration rules, and then set them to work with a match that they had to turn into a needle.

Expecting to get it immediately, Bellatrix was extraordinarily frustrated when she failed time and time again. And, to add insult to injury, that bloody mudblood, the  _ Granger girl _ , had succeeded! The mudblood! Had gotten it before her!

What was the world coming to?!

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The days winded by, and Bellatrix was getting along rather well with her classes. The only person who was ahead of her (by a very narrow margin, mind you) was  _ Granger _ , which was unacceptable, because she was a  _ filthy mudblood _ who had  _ no business _ being better at magic than  _ her _ , Bellatrix, who was a  _ Black _ , which was supposed to be the best thing one could be, but then that  _ stupid mudblood _ just had to come along and be  _ better than her _ , and it was  _ infuriating _ !

As suspected, her father had not sent a Howler when he discovered that she had been, of all the disgraceful things, a hatstall. Of course, he had to go and do something worse, and she had to go and visit her home the first weekend of term so he could give her a “talking to”, which was the worst thing he could have done, because she did not, at all, whatsoever, enjoy being in her home, and she didn’t even get to see her sisters.

But she got it over with, and went on with life. Quidditch lessons had been the previous weekend- a hilarious occurrence, with a whole load of excitement, when the Potter boy pulled off a spectacular move (not that she would ever admit that). Because of course it had to be Potter that showed off in front of a Professor, and it had to be Potter that didn’t even get expelled for doing so. 

She had taken to spending a lot of time in the library- her fellow first year Slytherins were, well, inadequate company. Parkinson and Greengrass were shallow, Draco was overly pompous, Bulstrode was just  _ ugh _ , and Nott was an ass. The only downside to her new favorite place in the castle was that it was also the favorite place of one Hermione Granger, who was still determined to be better than her, which was just plain annoying. No matter how much Bellatrix studied, how much she read ahead, Granger had read more, had studied more, had learned more, and Bellatrix just wanted to- to- hit her! Or something. That was what you did when someone was bothering you, right? Hexing was another thing, but that wasn’t allowed, and Bellatrix didn’t want to have to go back home and deal with her father again. Crucioing her wasn’t allowed, either, which Bellatrix was honestly glad about, because she knew intimately how painful those could be and she wouldn’t even want Granger to get hurt that badly if she were to get mad at her.

Thankfully, Granger did not talk to her, not even a little bit since that first night. Actually, nobody really talked to her- the other houses didn’t want to talk to any Slytherins, and the Slytherins didn’t seem sure what to do with her, seeing as she actively tried to avoid most of them. But she didn’t mind being friendless, because she didn’t have time for friends, because she needed to study so she could beat Granger in their classes, because it just  _ wasn’t fair _ that she was so much smarter. And, also, if Bellatrix didn’t come first in the class rankings for the end of year exams, if her father ever found out she’d been beaten by a  _ mudblood _ , she would likely be locked up in her room for the entire summer, and she  _ hated _ it when that happened.

And then Draco came back to the common room with an insane plan about challenging Potter to a duel and then ratting them out to Filch, which she had to admit was rather brilliant, because Gryffindors never back down from a challenge. Unfortunately, the plan was an utter failure, judging by the fact that Potter and Weasley were completely still at Hogwarts the next morning, with no detentions to speak of. They did, however, have an enthusiasm that could only mean they’d had an adventure, and judging from the pallor of Granger and Longbottom’s faces, they had been dragged along. It would’ve made Bellatrix’s day if Granger had been expelled, and she cursed Draco for being such a poor planner.

On Halloween, they finally learned how to levitate objects, something only Bellatrix and Granger managed by the end of class. Because, honestly, how do you expect to cast a spell if you can’t even get the incantation correct? It’s Win- _ gar _ \- dium Levi- _ o _ -sa, how is that so difficult to understand?

She was walking out of class, smug as she watched Draco still trying to do the swish and flick movement (and doing it horribly wrong), when Granger burst into tears near her. She stared at her, completely baffled, until she heard Potter and Weasley’s conversation- “she must’ve noticed she hasn’t got any friends”- and concluded that they must’ve been talking about her. Bellatrix scoffed- of course, Granger would hear this and go off and  _ cry _ like a  _ baby _ , probably in the girls bathroom, because of course Granger would be so  _ clichéd _ \- well, that was all well and good, and maybe now Bellatrix could get ahead because Granger would be missing her next class, but then she realized that would probably never happen because Granger was probably an entire month ahead  _ anyway _ , so really it was just rather sad that the girl was crying by herself in a bathroom, maybe now realizing that she couldn’t fit in this world because she was just a little  _ mudblood… _

Bellatrix was absolutely right- Granger did not show up to their next class, nor was she seen for the rest of the afternoon. She didn’t even come to the feast- not that Bellatrix was looking, or anything, because why would she ever look over at the Gryffindor table on  _ purpose _ , but she was facing them and it looked strangely empty without Granger’s bushy head of hair. She supposed the girl would just miss whatever happened, because obviously no one would fill her in because Weasley was right, she didn’t exactly have any friends.

A magnificent feast was laying on the table, and Bellatrix was just starting to dig in when Professor Quirell, possibly her most incompetent professor, came bursting into the hall, ran up to the head table, gasped out something about a troll in the dungeon and fainted.

And then there was utter chaos.

Dumbledore fired several firecrackers from his wand to get everyone to settle down. “Prefects, lead your House back to the dormitories immediately!”

Well, brilliant- there was a troll loose in the school, probably looking to eat someone, or something equally dreadful (she did not know, exactly, what it was that trolls did), so no one better be caught unawares-

_ Granger. _

In that split second, Bellatrix was not quite sure what came over her. They were just out of the Great Hall, and the prefects were debating whether or not to go to the common room because  _ it’s in the dungeons, where the troll is, why the hell would we go there? _ , and Hermione Granger was completely unaware of the likely carnivorous troll that probably would not stay in the dungeons, and it was very likely that no one cared because everyone was panicking and  _ was she really the only one who remembered about the missing student _ , she knew Patil had gone to see if she was alright, but she was clinging to Lavender Brown’s arm and chattering away, so really, Bellatrix had no other choice but to go find Granger and make sure she didn’t get eaten by a bloody troll because no one else even knew she wasn’t there because the girl didn’t have any friends.

And by the time she was done convincing herself it was a good idea, she was already at the girls bathroom, and it was too late to turn back, really, because she wasn’t going to wander around the school alone any more than she already had. But then Granger would think she actually cared about her, which wasn’t good- but she made up her mind when she heard footsteps down the corridor, because she really didn’t want to get caught wandering around the school when she wasn’t supposed to because then someone might tell her father, so she pushed open the bathroom door and slipped inside.

“Hey, Granger?”

A stall door creaked open, and a bushy mane of hair appeared and frankly Bellatrix had never been more relieved to see a mudblood.

“Bellatrix. What do you want?”

Bellatrix assumed her haughty stance. “Well, there’s a troll loose. And it didn’t seem like anyone else was bothering to come find you, so I decided I would.”

“I- thanks, I guess?”

“Well- well, I, you’re welcome. Are you coming or not?”

Granger didn’t answer, instead brushing past her to walk out the door, but then she slammed the door shut after one glance outside and bolted it before pressing her back up against it, and now Bellatrix was just confused, and relatively sure that the mudblood was crazy.

“What is it, Granger?”

“Troll,” Granger gasped out, snapping out of a trance and dashing over to stand beside Bellatrix, and Bellatrix reflected that this was not a good time to realize that Granger constantly smelled of parchment.

“Outside?”

“Yes.”

“Did it see you?”

“Yes.”

“Well-”

But Bellatrix was cut off by a bang, and the door creaked, and Bellatrix really needed to stop thinking about how flimsy wood could be, especially when one was relying on it to keep a troll out.

_ Crash! _

The door smashed open, and Bellatrix had a sudden image of a head doing the same, and oh, Merlin, she was probably going to die, and why was someone pulling her arm? Oh, Granger, it was Granger, because of course it was, and she was pulling her arm- to get her to back up. Well, what use was that? Now the troll would have to walk a couple more feet, which would probably make it more annoyed, which would probably just make it kill them more painfully, and-

“Confuse it!”

What?

Bellatrix opened her eyes (though she couldn’t quite remember closing them) to find Potter and Weasley throwing things around at the troll, and Potter telling them to run. Well, Bellatrix certainly wasn’t going to move any time soon, and Granger didn’t look particularly eager to either, so she was going to stay right where she was, thank you very much. And then Potter  _ jumped onto the troll _ , completely ignoring Bellatrix’s cries of “The bloody hell are you doing, Potter?”, and stuck his wand up its nose.

Ron Weasley, in a rare moment of actual usefulness, levitated the club right out of the troll’s grasp and sent it down on its head with a sickening  _ crack _ . 

The four of them stood around it in shock. Granger, in a feeble voice, asked if it was dead- “it’s just knocked out”, Potter told her, and took his wand from its nose.

“What are you doing here?” Bellatrix turned to Weasley, who was staring at her incredulously.

Bellatrix realized that this was a very good question. What was she doing here, again? Oh, right- Granger hadn’t known about the troll, and for some reason that she couldn’t quite understand, she had gone running off to the bathroom to tell her about it, which was very stupid in retrospect, because she didn’t even like Granger, and the Dumb Duo had come looking for her anyway, and had defeated the troll, and she shouldn’t have even been there in the first place.

“Er-”

The teachers, drawn by the din, came bursting into the room. Quirrell whimpered and sat down on one of the toilets.

McGonagall, looking angrier than Bellatrix had ever seen her, rounded on them. “What were you _thinking_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Chapters will likely be posted Wednesdays and Saturdays from now on.


	3. Part 1: Chapter 3

**Part 1: Chapter 3:**

“What were you thinking? You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Why aren’t you in your dormitories?”

Hermione gulped from her spot in the corner. Now Ron, Harry, and possibly Bellatrix were going to get in trouble for trying to help her. McGonagall looked like she might explode at any second, and Snape looked like Christmas had come early.

“It was my fault, Professor McGonagall.”

“Miss Granger!” It was almost comical how all of the teachers turned towards her in astonishment.

“I went looking for the troll. I’d read all about them and thought I could handle it. If these three hadn’t come to find me, I’d probably be dead.”

The teachers all stood there, shocked. Harry, Ron, and Bellatrix all tried to look as if her story was familiar.

Snape raised his eyebrows. “Am I to believe that Ms. Black came here with Mr.’s Potter and Weasley to come to your rescue?” Hermione would have been incredulous as well, if that had not been something close to the truth- in fact, Bellatrix hadn’t even needed prompting from Harry and Ron to come running to warn her about the troll.

“Er- yes?”

At this, Bellatrix stepped up, albeit reluctantly. “Yes, sir. You see, I heard these two saying Granger was going to the bathroom, so I followed them, because I’ve seen them struggle to perform the most basic spells, and didn’t exactly have much confidence in their ability to fight off a troll.”

Ron and Harry looked slightly affronted at this, but stayed silent. “Well, in that case- Ms. Granger, what were you thinking, running after a mountain troll by yourself? 5 points from Gryffindor for this. If you’re not hurt, you may head up to Gryffindor Tower, where they have set up the continuation of a feast.” Sensing the obvious dismissal, Hermione dashed out of the room, and headed up to Gryffindor Tower.

When she got there, she waited at the entrance for Harry and Ron to come through. When they did, they all stared at each other for a bit, before muttering “Thanks” and going to get themselves food. 

And from that moment on, Harry and Ron became her friends.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix had managed to avoid the questions from her fellow Slytherins about where she’d been with the simple excuse of having gotten lost. It was a bit embarrassing, but it was infinitely better than saying she’d rushed off to help a  _ mudblood _ , much less one as annoying as Granger, because if she told anyone about that then everybody would probably  _ hate her _ , and she was just starting to get used to some of them, so that really wouldn’t do. And she was still not quite sure why she’d done it in the first place- it was probably just instinct, the sorting hat did want to put her in Gryffindor, she would just have to quiet those instincts, that’s all, or at least not direct them at  _ Granger _ . Although, she mused, it had been worth it to see the completely baffled looks on Potter and Weasley’s faces, and, though she would never, ever admit it, to see the grateful look Granger had given her before she left the bathroom.

So another week went by, as the weather started to get chilly, when Bellatrix encountered another problem: she simply did not understand Potions. For reasons she could not even fathom, she was starting to fall so behind in that class that she had to actually ask the professor what she was doing wrong.

Professor Snape was an interesting figure in her life. He was her Head of House, and therefore she respected him, but he also taught her least favorite subject and he was really a horrible teacher, because he always favored Slytherins to the point of coddling, and then none of them ever managed to be any good at potions, and because he never allowed any other houses to actually enjoy the class, effectively making it so that this next generation would have no Potions Masters. She also suspected that she was just as complicated for him- she was in his prized Slytherin House, and so he favored her, but she also didn’t talk to anyone and didn’t work well with her partner and had discovered her horrid potion making skills when they’d moved on to more advanced brews.

“Professor Snape?”

“Yes, Ms. Black?”

“I was wondering- you see, I’ve not been doing very well in Potions recently, as you probably know and I just- wanted to know if there was anything I could do to improve.” Merlin, this was horrifying.

“Ah. Well, I would offer extra help, but you pay attention in my class unlike some of these other blithering idiots and obviously don’t need any more help from me. In that case, you should ask a fellow student for help. May I suggest- Ms. Granger?”

“Wha-  _ Hermione _ Granger?”

“Yes. Hermione Granger. She is the top of her class, and while I would normally suggest a fellow Slytherin, I suspect that you are quite a bit beyond their- skill level.” Well, that was new. Bellatrix had never heard Snape criticize a Slytherin student before, although she supposed it was alright in front of her, another Slytherin. “I recommend you seek her out. Now, I believe you have a class to get to?”

Bellatrix practically stormed out of the room and through the halls. How dare he suggest she be tutored by  _ Hermione Granger? _ Her rival! Her enemy! Her greatest foe in the field of academics! She was outraged!

All the same, she did need help with potions. And Granger was in her next class, so really she had no choice but to ask her.

Damnit.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Granger.”

“Hmm?”

“Granger!”

Hermione looked up, surprised to see Bellatrix Black glaring at her. “Yes?”

“Can I sit here?”

Completely and utterly baffled, Hermione could only nod, and Bellatrix slumped into the seat next to her as if it was the last thing she wanted to do. Hermione could not understand why she did not sit elsewhere- there were plenty of empty seats, and she very clearly did not want to be sitting next to her.

“I need to ask,” Bellatrix ground out, “a  _ favor _ .”

“Okay. What is it?”

Bellatrix looked shocked. “Wha- just like that?”

“Well, you know,” Hermione shrugged, “I guess I kind of owe you, right?”

Bellatrix just blinked at her, before remembering what she was there for. “Right. Well. I, erm.” She seemed to be having an immense difficulty getting the words out. “You, er- you’re good at Potions.”

Hermione stared. “Your point?”

Bellatrix looked as if she would rather be anywhere else. “My  _ point _ ,” she said through gritted teeth, “is that I am not. And Snape seems to think it would be a good idea if I were to-  _ ask _ you, to- to,  _ tutor me _ , at Potions, because I can’t seem to grasp it, and of course the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, because I don’t need  _ your _ help, but Snape seems to think so-”

“Sure.”

“I- what?”

“I can tutor you. What time are you free?”

Bellatrix’s jaw dropped. “You- what?!”

“Do you want my help or not?”

This seemed to be a difficult question for Bellatrix to answer, and before she could class had started. However, at the end, she told her, “7:00 on Saturday. Library.”

Well, that was that, then- gathering her things, she went to meet up with Harry and Ron, wondering if she should tell them about this recent development. Before she got the chance, however, Snape came over, demanding Harry hand over  _ Quidditch Through the Ages _ , something Harry was rather furious about, and she forgot. She almost did that night, as well, when Ron told her gratefully that she should tutor people (as she had just finished checking his Charms work), but Harry came back blabbering on about Snape and how he had been the one to let that troll in, and this was enough to wipe the incident from Hermione’s mind.

The next day, Harry was a ball of nerves- he was barely eating anything. When he went to get ready for the match, she helped Ron, Dean, and Seamus with the finishing touches of a banner they had made for Harry- after performing a charm to make it flash different colors, they brought it out to the pitch, unfurling it on the top row.

The beginning of the match was exciting- more exciting than Hermione had thought it would be. Lee Jordan’s commentary made it more entertaining than any sports match she had ever attended, and she was surrounded by her friends.

And then Harry’s broom started to buck. Hermione started getting an awful suspicion, and she grabbed a pair of binoculars and started to search for Snape and- yes. There he was- not taking his eyes off of Harry, muttering under his breath. She pushed the binoculars into Ron’s hand after telling him to leave Snape to her, and ran out through the stands.

“Oof!”

“Watch where you’re going, Granger!”

Hermione groaned when she realized she had run straight into Bellatrix, who was blocking her way and watching Harry with rapt interest. “Look, Bellatrix, I really need to go-”

“To do what?”

Sensing that she wouldn’t be letting her go any time soon, and figuring Bellatrix would remember that she owed Harry for saving her from a troll, blurted, “Snape’s jinxing Harry’s broom, I’m going to go stop him.”

“Why would Snape curse his broom?”

“I don’t know, but he’s doing it, and you need to move!” Brushing past Bellatrix, she ran over to Snape, in such a rush that she didn’t notice when Quirrell toppled over into the front row. Muttering an incantation, she sent a flame at Snape’s robes, and dashed off. 

A few feet away, she could hear exclamations, and she smiled.

“What did you do?” Bellatrix asked when she passed her again. Harry was back on his broom and speeding towards the ground.

“None of your business, Black.” Bellatrix frowned, but didn’t press as Hermione turned her attention to the match, where Harry was coughing on the ground, and-

“He’s got it!”

“Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!”

Grinning, Hermione headed back over to where her friends were seated, and joined in on the celebrations before heading down with Harry and Ron to Hagrid’s hut, where he made them a cup of tea.

While they were there, they tried to convince Hagrid that Snape had jinxed Harry’s broom, until the conversation turned to Fluffy and the trapdoor, and Hagrid blurted something about Nicholas Flamel.

“Aha! So there’s someone called Nicholas Flamel involved,” Harry said triumphantly, while Hagrid looked absolutely furious with himself.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 7:00, Hermione made the familiar trek down to the library, Potion’s notes in hand. She’d had to leave in the middle of Ron and Harry’s frankly insane theories about who Nicholas Flamel might be.

As she walked, she thought of ways she could get that information- it would probably be in the library, as most things were, and she was sure she could find it. Come to think of it, the name sounded relatively familiar, so it must’ve been a book she’d already read, she just couldn’t remember which one.

She sat down at a table with Bellatrix, who was casting furtive glances around the room as if expecting someone to jump out at her and accusing her of something horrible. “So what is it you’re struggling with?”

“Well, there’s this one potion….”

Hermione worked with Bellatrix for the better part of 2 hours before they decided to retire (it was, after all, 20 minutes to curfew). As they were packing up, Hermione was struck with a sudden idea- Bellatrix, who was part of a Wizarding family and much more knowledgeable than Ron, might be useful.

“Say, Bellatrix, I was reading, and I came across an unfamiliar name.”

“You want my help to find something about the Wizarding World?” Bellatrix grinned.

“I don’t need the help, but it might be easier than searching through the library,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Bellatrix, while humbled by the tutoring and the troll incident, was still insufferably arrogant and still seemed to feel that she was far superior to Hermione.

“Have you ever heard of Nicholas Flamel?”

Bellatrix scoffed. “Of course I have. I should think even muggles have heard of him, he’s really quite famous.”

“Bellatrix.”

“Alright, then. Well, his biggest claim to fame is his immortality. He’s the only known person with a Philosopher’s Stone, which makes the Elixir of Life. He and his wife take it, and they’re about 600 years old, I think. The stone can also turn any metal into gold. What book was this, by the way?”

“Oh, I’m not really sure. Well, thanks, I guess. See you next week, same time?”

“Alright, Granger.”

Without another word, Bellatrix left. Shaking her head, Hermione ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, eager to tell Harry and Ron the news.

“Harry! Ron!”

“Hey, ‘Mione, could you look at-”

“Later, Ron. I found him!”

“Flamel?”

“Yes! He’s one of the only known makers of the Philosopher’s stone- it can make you immortal! That must be what Fluffy’s guarding- no wonder Snape wants it, wouldn’t anyone?”

“Blimey! But- it must be really heavily guarded, right? It sounds really valuable.”

“Of course! We should ask Hagrid, I bet he’d know, Dumbledore’d tell him anything.”

“We’ll go tomorrow. For now- Ron, you wanted me to look that over?”

“Thanks, Hermione.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Part 1: Chapter 4

**Part 1: Chapter 4:**

Much to Bellatrix’s dismay, her Potions work improved drastically once Hermione started tutoring her. It was now 4 weeks in, and they had taken to meeting about 3 times a week- sometimes not even working on potions at all, but going through other classwork, complaining about certain Professors- dear Merlin, it was almost like they were  _ friends _ . But, of course, this was ridiculous- she would never be friends with a  _ mudblood _ , after all, and besides, what would her father think? But she had to admit, she did enjoy their talks, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to be- acquaintances. Yes, that could work.

“Something’s worrying you, Granger,” Bellatrix said in a sing-song voice. It was supposed to be taunting, but she almost sounded- concerned. That wouldn’t do.

“It’s nothing,” she snapped.

“Hmm. Sure it is, Granger. Those boyfriends of yours driving you crazy?”

“They’re not my boyfriends, Bellatrix. But yes, they are, they’re all worried that Snape’s-” She stopped short, clearly having said something she hadn’t meant to.

Of course, Bellatrix had to know what. “That Snape’s what? Evil? A vampire? I wouldn’t be that surprised, to be honest-”

“Oh, for goodness sake, Bellatrix, we’ve been over this. Snape’s not a vampire.”

“Agree to disagree.”

Granger sighed in annoyance. “They’re worried he’s going to steal something. I say it’s fine, he won’t be able to get in, there are far too many defenses-”

“It’s whatever’s on the third floor corridor, isn’t it?”

Granger gaped at her. “How did you-”

“It’s obvious. Why else would they have closed it off? They can’t be doing repairs, because you can do them magically in a second. Do you know what they’re hiding?”

“I- well, yes, we think so, but-”

“What is it?”

“Bellatrix-”

“Is it something dangerous?”

“Well, not particularly.”

“Valuable?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What is it?”

Granger looked at her with a pained expression. “You really want to know?”

“Yes! Spill, Granger!”

She sighed, and glanced around the library before leaning in and whispering, “Do you remember when I asked you about Nicholas Flamel?”

I thought back and remembered thinking it odd at the time, but answering anyway and telling her- “Dear Merlin, have they got the Philosopher’s stone in the castle?”

“Well-”

“And you think  _ Snape’s _ trying to steal it?!”

“Well, at Halloween, he got this horrible leg wound, and Harry figures he let the troll in so he could slip in and try to steal it. And he tried to jinx Harry’s broom, probably because Harry saw him while Filch was healing the leg and he actually overheard them talking about the dog.”

“Merlin’s beard, Granger, that’s some pretty serious shit!”

She cast her a dirty look, something she did rather often. “Yes. Shall we get to work?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next time Bellatrix saw Snape, it was with a new light. Would he really try to steal the Philosopher’s stone that the headmaster was obviously trying to guard? And why would he? Well, sure, Bellatrix couldn’t think of anybody who  _ wouldn’t _ want a Philosopher’s stone, but Snape didn’t seem like the type of person to want to prolong their life. He had to be doing it for some other reason. Riches? Well, he was a teacher, and at Hogwarts they got paid pretty well considering they lived at the castle and didn’t have to pay for food or housing. He can’t have been terribly poor, and he always got his hands on decent potions supplies.

Unless he was stealing it for someone else?

But who else could want a Philosopher’s stone so badly that they would go through Snape, of all people, to get it? A better question: who would Snape betray Dumbledore for, the man who had gotten him a job after his Death Eater days?

His Death Eater days.

Of course. It was so obvious, Bellatrix should have seen it immediately.

This was really, really not good.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Granger! Hey! Granger!”

“What, Bellatrix?” 

“I need to talk to you!”

Hermione allowed Bellatrix to grab her arm and drag her into an empty classroom. “Snape isn’t stealing the stone for himself,” she blurted.

“What?!”

“Well, I thought about it, and it just doesn’t make sense! I mean, sure, anyone would want a philosopher’s stone, but not enough to go up against a three headed dog. And I can’t think of a reason he would be desperate enough to steal it for himself, so he must be doing it for someone else. And the only person I can think of that holds more sway over Snape than Dumbledore is, well, you-know-who.”

Hermione gaped at her. “Are you saying…”

“Well, Snape  _ was _ a Death Eater! He was one of the Dark Lord’s followers, everyone knows it, but Dumbledore vouched for him and claimed he’d been a spy. But he could still be working for him!”

Hermione thought it through, and when she did, she realized that it really did make sense. After all, most books theorized that Voldemort was not really dead, and it stood to reason that he would want a Philosopher’s stone to come back to life. “Well- if Dumbledore trusts him, there isn’t much we can do except keep an eye on things.”

“Don’t you think he could get through the protections?”

“Doubtful. Hagrid told us that McGonagall, Quirrell, Sprout, Flitwick, Dumbledore, himself, and Snape had all put protections on it.”

“Is Hagrid’s that monstrosity guarding the trapdoor?”

“How do you even _ know _ about that?”

“I went to see what all the fuss was about, of course.”

“Dear god, Bellatrix, did you really?”

“Well, didn’t you? And who’s god?”

“It was an accident! And he’s, er, something muggles worship.”

“Oh. Did it happen after Draco sent Potter and Weasley off on that duel?”

Hermione stared at her in shock. “You knew about that?”

“Everyone in Slytherin did. Draco thought he was very clever. He often thinks that. And he is often wrong.”

Hermione snorted in spite of herself. “Look, Bellatrix, I’ve got to get to class. Harry and Ron are probably wondering where I am.”

“Fine. See you.” And Bellatrix stalked off.

Sighing, Hermione dashed off to her next class, and that night in the common room she filled in Harry and Ron. When she was done, they stared at her incredulously.

“So- you think Snape’s trying to bring Voldemort back?” Harry asked, and Ron flinched horribly. “Sorry, Ron. Hermione, how do you know he used to work for Vol- sorry, You-Know-Who?”

“I looked up his records.” Well, this wasn’t entirely untrue- she had, in fact, gone to the library to look for records, and had managed to come up with something, though it was very little compared to the vast amount of books dedicated to the end of the war with Voldemort. Truth be told, she wasn’t too keen on letting the boys in on her source of information- they weren’t necessarily on bad terms with Bellatrix, but they probably wouldn’t trust her just because she was a Slytherin (and a bit of a blood supremacist, though that was getting much better). And evenings with Bellatrix felt like something separate from her friends in Gryffindor, and she’d really rather keep it that way.

“Blimey. Well, what can we do about it?” Ron asked, looking ready to get up and duel Snape right then and there.

“Nothing, right now. Dumbledore apparently trusts Snape, so we can’t go to him without actual evidence, and we don’t have that, not really. All we can do is keep an eye on him.” Harry scowled, clearly not happy about this plan.

“Now, why don’t you give me those essays and I can look them over?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severus Snape was, in general, not a very good person. He knew he was- a bit biased, to say the least, towards his house during class, and had targeted certain students with viciousness. 

Despite this, he was not quite sure what he had done to earn himself outright hostile, judging, fearful looks from not one but four of his students. Potter, Weasley, and Granger, he should have expected- they were, after all, Gryffindors, and Potter was his father’s son. But Bellatrix Black? Surely, something was wrong- she’d been avoiding him, he was sure, and didn’t meet his eyes when he complimented her on her potions, which really were getting better- he’d made the right decision, pairing her with Granger. Although, thinking back on it, this was likely what had brought about the change in behavior. Just his luck- the last thing he needed was another Potter fan running around the castle. He would have to be nicer to her to keep her on the Slytherin side of things.

He peered over Weasley’s shoulder at his potion, and the boy turned a sickly color and started shaking.

Now, really, what had he done to deserve this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Part 1: Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for non consensual touching/ kissing

**Part 1: Chapter 5:**

Bellatrix had not had a good holiday.

First, there was the obvious- she despised going home, as the only good part about her family were her sisters and cousins, because her mother and father were possibly some of the worst people she knew, and that said a lot, because Snape really had been getting very suspicious lately. He was definitely trying to win her favor to get her to believe he was innocent.

Second, one of her many elderly relatives spent nearly their entire visit going on about how Bellatrix needed to get betrothed soon, because who knew if she would turn out to be beautiful later in life? (Thanks, Auntie). And then her father just smiled and told her he had plans being put in motion, though he’d planned on revealing it when they were finalized, and this was certainly news to Bellatrix and she hoped and prayed to her ancestors that it wouldn’t be someone completely objectionable like Draco Malfoy.

Third, he actually went and  _ announced the engagement _ at the Yule Party,  _ without even telling her first! _ And even worse, it was to  _ Rodolphus Lestrange _ , who was 5 years older than her and was an absolute creep, since the first opportunity he got, he dragged her to a side room and kissed her, running his hands on her and making her feel absolutely  _ horrible _ until she threatened to scream if he got any further. 

But, thankfully, that was over now- and she was back on the platform, saying goodbye to her sisters (the only part of Black Manor she would miss) and boarding the train. She spotted Granger, and thought she might be able to ‘accidentally’ wander into her compartment to say hello, but then Rodolphus was grabbing her around the waist and practically carrying her to a compartment with his brother and friends, where he sat her down on his lap, and she thought she might’ve hated him even more than her father because  _ dear Merlin he was running his hands along her thigh and she wanted to scream- _ and he wouldn’t let her go until they got all the way to the common room, where she was able to escape and get into the dorm, where Pansy Parkinson kept shooting her pitying looks and really she just wanted to go to the library and talk to Granger, but then she’d have to go through the common room and she didn’t want to see Rodolphus right now.

So she stayed in her dorm until the next morning, when she went down to the Great Hall to grab some breakfast before running off to the library before Rodolphus could get ahold of her. And, thank Merlin, Granger was already there and reading from a giant tome, and she rushed over and sat across from her even though she didn’t  _ usually _ sit with her during the day.

She must’ve looked horrible, because Granger glanced up at her and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Bellatrix shrugged, determined to not think of anything involving her father or Rodolphus or really the world in general. “What’re you reading?”

Thankfully, Granger didn’t press the issue. “Just a bit of light reading. I was wondering about protective enchantments.”

Oh, right. The stone. “Did you find anything over break?”

“Harry found a mirror. Apparently it shows a person’s deepest desires.”

Well, that was certainly interesting. “Where is it?”

“Dumbledore moved it. We don’t know where it is anymore.”

“Damn. I would’ve liked to see that.”

“I don’t really think it’s meant to be seen. Harry probably would’ve gone mad if it hadn’t been moved.”

“Gone mad?!”

Hermione leaned in to whisper. “It showed him his family, I think. Ron says he went there for several nights, and he got all listless. It’s better off not knowing, sometimes, don’t you think? To not have that temptation?”

“I suppose,” Bellatrix sighed. Still….

She would’ve liked to see what that mirror showed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the weeks that followed, Hermione spent more time in the library than ever- something, she thought, was probably because Bellatrix had started to practically live there. From what Hermione could tell, she was avoiding the Slytherin Common Room, though she couldn’t think of a reason unless her fellow Slytherins had started to annoy her.

Harry was near devastated at the news that Snape would be refereeing his next match- Hermione honestly thought that this was an overreaction, as it would be rather difficult for Snape to murder Harry when all eyes were on him, but all the same, she and Ron learned the leg-locker curse that Malfoy had performed on Neville, just to be safe. 

Thankfully, the match was over without much incident apart from the small fist fight going on next to her, and the snitch had been caught within 5 minutes- not quite a record, but very close. She brought Ron up to the Gryffindor Common Room (he was a bit dazed) where they waited for Harry to join them.

When he did, he brought disturbing news- Snape wanted Quirrell to find out how to get past Fluffy.

“It’ll be gone by next Tuesday,” Ron moaned, and she couldn’t agree more.

When she relayed this news to Bellatrix, she had a different sentiment. “Granger, the only person the Dark Lord feared was Dumbledore. Even if Quirrell breaks down, he won’t dare to take it while Dumbledore is here.” She frowned a bit. “Why Quirrell?”

“Well, he is the Defense teacher.”

Bellatrix scoffed. “He’s completely incompetent. Snape’s much more knowledgeable in the dark arts- if he can’t get past Fluffy, I don’t see why Quirrell could.”

“Maybe he’s better with creatures? I don’t know, or he just thought Quirrell would be the easiest to intimidate.”

“Well, he was right. I still maintain that Snape’s a vampire and now he’s threatening to drink Quirrell’s blood.”

“Bellatrix, why must I keep telling you? Snape is not a vampire!”

“Maybe whatever Quirrell could use to get past Fluffy is in his turban. Maybe he’s got, like, a secret weapon hidden under there that Snape can only sense with his vampire power.”

Hermione groaned, absolutely fed up with trying to argue with Bellatrix on her ‘Snape is a vampire’ point. “Let’s just- do some homework, alright?”

Bellatrix grinned. “Sure thing, Granger.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks later, Granger started panicking about end of year exams, causing Bellatrix to start panicking about end of year exams, causing both of them to spend even  _ more _ time in the library, which Bellatrix hadn’t thought was possible but here they were. 

Unfortunately this also meant that the Dumb Duo (as she had taken to calling Potter and Weasley) was also being pressured into studying, which meant that they got to sit with Hermione and she didn’t, which she thought was rather unfair, because it wasn’t like they usually came and sat with her, so really they were encroaching on her territory. Nevertheless, neither boy was quite as dedicated to studying as the two of them, so she still got plenty of time with Granger.

Sweet Morgana, when did she get so  _ clingy? _

As exams were getting closer and closer, and Bellatrix was getting tenser and tenser, Hermione came into the library looking utterly  _ defeated _ , and immediately Bellatrix found herself asking what was wrong.

Hermione looked at her in misery. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Granger, you’ve been telling me things all year, I think I’ll be fine.”

She gulped, and whispered in her ear, “Hagrid’s got a dragon egg.”

Bellatrix gasped and turned to look at Granger. “He does not!”

“Oh, no, he does. We went down to visit him today, and he’s got the egg sitting in his fireplace. He won it off of someone in a bar.”

“Is he bloody mad?”

Granger sighed. “Possibly.”

“Wha- how is he planning on taking care of it?!”

“He checked out books from the library,” said Granger.

“But- but- but that’s just crazy!”

“I’m aware,” she said grimly. “And I’ve certainly tried to convince him of that fact.”

“What kind?”

“Norweigian Ridgeback, apparently. It’s an absolutely horrid idea, but he’s dead set on it, even though he  _ lives in a wooden house _ , and no one can convince him otherwise.”

Bellatrix felt quite as if the world had gone mad, and she told Hermione this.

“Well, we’re going to help him out with it-”

“Oh, now  _ you’re _ mad as well, bloody brilliant-”

“-so maybe he won’t get in trouble.”

“Oh, please, Hagrid wouldn’t get in trouble if he burned the whole castle down. He’s one of Dumbledore’s favorites, remember?”

Bellatrix thought that this was fair. After all, it was no secret that, when Dumbledore liked someone, they got grand rewards and teensy punishments, something Bellatrix found wildly unfair, mostly because he  _ never _ favored Slytherins and since Bellatrix was a Slytherin most people, including Dumbledore, hated her by default.

Life was so unfair.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As exams drew nearer and nearer each passing day, Hermione found herself starting to panic. What if she failed? What if they kicked her out of the school? What if, what if, what if- and, to top it all off, Norbert was growing rather large, and they were awaiting a reply from Charlie to see if he would take him.

They received that answer today, and were all immensely relieved, but were then equally devastated when they learned that Draco knew what they were doing- but they had an invisibility cloak, which Draco didn’t know anything about, so they should be fine if everything went right.

Of course, there was another way Hermione could think of to keep Draco from the Astronomy Tower at midnight on Saturday….

“Hey, Bellatrix!”

“Granger.”

“Mind doing me a favor?” Bellatrix looked at her as though this was the absolute last thing she wanted to be doing, but, to Hermione’s great surprise, nodded. “You see, we’re getting rid of Norbert at midnight on Saturday. But Draco found out-”

“Of course he did.”

“So we need you to keep him occupied so he can’t follow us.”

Bellatrix looked absolutely gleeful. “I can do anything to keep him occupied?”

“Well, don’t kill him or anything, but otherwise, yes.”

Hermione was suddenly struck by how creepy Bellatrix’s ‘plotting’ look could be as she said, “Excellent.” 

That night, Harry and Hermione snuck Norbert up to the Astronomy Tower- a monumentally hard task, but they got up without meeting anyone. They waited for Charlie’s friends to come, and then Norbert was being tied to the brooms and he was gone.

Thank god.

Hermione, still at least attempting to proceed with caution, threw the invisibility cloak over her and Harry, and they headed back to Gryffindor Tower. They passed Filch on the way, crept around him, and were met with no further obstacles.

Mission successful.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco Malfoy was totally and utterly disappointed in himself. He’d fallen asleep! His one chance to catch Potter at something, and he had fallen asleep! In the middle of the common room! One sip from his evening tea, and he was out like a light. And. And! It had spilled all over his homework. He had to ask an older student to clean it up for him!

He was rather furious with himself.

Up in the girls dormitory, Bellatrix stashed the sleeping draught she’d stolen from Snape away in her trunk, and smiled.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was decided, Bellatrix thought. Exams were the worst things in the whole  _ world _ . They were so stressful, and horrible, and Granger probably did better than her, which wasn’t  _ okay _ , even though it was probably going to happen anyway, and she really wanted to go over the answers with Granger but she was off talking to the Dumb Duo like she  _ always _ was, so she was stuck hiding out in the library alone, because it was the one place Rodolphus literally never went because he claimed he was allergic to books.

And now it was getting closer to summer break, and Bellatrix would have been perfectly happy to just stay at Hogwarts for the rest of her life, really, but nooooo, there had to be  _ breaks _ and she had to go a whole 3 months without talking to Granger because there was no way her father was going to let her owl a- a- muggleborn (Merlin, she couldn’t even  _ think _ the word mudblood anymore, what was happening to her?), so Granger would probably talk to her stupid boyfriends all summer and then next year she would probably decide she didn’t even  _ need _ Bellatrix and then she would be alone.

But for now they were meeting in the library, and Granger was clearly stressing out about something, and it looked like it might be worse than the dragon thing and Bellatrix couldn’t even imagine how that would be  _ possible _ .

“Granger, something’s wrong.”

Granger let out a long breath and tapped her finger nervously on her leg. “Look, I- if Dumbledore comes back, tell him we’ve gone to the third floor corridor and to get there as soon as possible. Please?”

“Wha- Granger, you’re not seriously thinking….”

“Dumbledore was called out to the Ministry today, we think Snape’s going to try to get the Stone tonight. We’re going to try to stop him.”

“But- shouldn’t you tell someone a bit more- qualified?”

“We already talked to McGonagall. She just assured us that it was well protected and told us to not worry about it.”

“I-”

“Please?”

Bellatrix was finding it much harder to say no to Granger. 

“Fine. What time?”

“Midnight.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was worried. Apparently, Granger and the Dumb Duo had gone down that trapdoor half an hour ago. She didn’t doubt Granger’s ability to excel in classes, or study, or solve complicated puzzles, but against enchantments designed by some of the best wizards and witches of the century? By  _ Dumbledore? _ Bellatrix wanted very badly to go in after them, but then if Dumbledore came he would never know to go down there and save them from whatever horrible curses they were probably struck with (which kept getting more and more horrid with each scenario Bellatrix thought of). And then-

“Professor Dumbledore!”

“Ah, Ms. Black. What can I-”

“You have to go help them, they’ve gone down the trapdoor, because Snape’s trying to steal the Stone, and they’re probably dead or something, and they told me to tell you and you need to go help them!”

Dumbledore gaped at her for a moment. “Who, Ms. Black?”

“I- Granger. And Potter and Weasley-” This was as far as she got before Dumbledore was running off to the third floor, and after a brief hesitation she was running after him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione took the potion, hoping she was right about this and she and Harry weren’t about to get poisoned, and an icy feeling overtook her body.

“Alright. Good luck- be safe-”

“Hermione, go!”

Hermione turned and walked right through the flames and into the room with the unconscious troll. Walking through to the chess room, she managed to get Ron’s arm around her shoulder and began dragging him to the door. She was nearly halfway there (she wondered what Harry was doing right now…) when-

_ Bam! _

“Professor!”

“Ms. Granger. You were going back with Mr. Weasley?”

“Yes, sir, and Harry’s gone ahead for the stone-”

Dumbledore nodded and rushed to the door, stepping through into the other room. Hermione debated following him, but she needed to get Ron out and to the hospital wing, and she’d lost time by dropping him to the floor when Dumbledore came bursting in.

Going back to her previous task, she lugged him to his feet, and almost fell over from the weight- Ron was much taller than her. She dragged him towards the door, feeling as if she would never make it and dreading having to fly him up and out of the trapdoor-

“Granger!”

“ _ Bellatrix?!” _

“Here, let me help you.”

“What the bloody hell are you doing down here?”

Bellatrix froze, as if not entirely sure herself. “I-er- came to help?”

Hermione gaped for a moment, before shrugging. “Okay, then. Help me with Ron?”

“Sure thing.”

Together, they got him into the room with the brooms, had a small dilemma regarding how, exactly, one carries an unconscious child on a broom, but Bellatrix solved that problem by grabbing one end, telling Hermione to get the other, and lifting off. It must’ve looked an odd sight, especially because they kept wobbling and almost dropping Ron, but they managed to get up through the trapdoor and went bursting through to the corridor.

“Alright, come on, grab his left arm- and drag.” It was rather undignified, and Hermione was sure it couldn’t have been all that comfortable for Ron, but they got him to the hospital wing, where they both nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

“Madam Pomfrey?”

The nurse came rushing out of her chambers, uttered an, “oh, dear!” and helped them lift Ron onto the nearest bed. After running some basic diagnostic spells, she determined that he was fine, just a bit bruised up. Bellatrix insisted that she look Hermione over as well, although she insisted she was fine, and she came to the same conclusion- after healing a couple of cuts, she was fine. Still, Bellatrix mother henned her all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, before leaving her to go to her dorm.

Everyone was asleep by the time she got up there, so she got dressed as quietly as she could before slipping into bed, dreams filled with giant chess pieces and evil, hook nosed professors.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So it was  _ Quirrell? _ ”

“Yep. You were right, in a way. He did have something hidden under that turban.”

“I knew it! So what was it?”

“You-Know-Who’s face.”

“Bloody hell!”

“Harry was losing the fight when Dumbledore came in- if he’d been any slower it might’ve been too late. So, thank you.”

Bellatrix preened at this, because even though she didn’t like Potter much (aside from the obvious debt owed for saving her from a troll), he was Granger’s friend and Granger would’ve been sad if he’d died or gotten too hurt, but now she was happy and everything was okay.

“Dumbledore even said he was going to commemorate us all at the speech, isn’t that crazy?”

“What?! But he can’t!”

“Well, why not?”

“Well- well, because then someone’ll tell my father I helped you and then he’ll be pissed at me and he’ll probably lock me in my room for the whole holiday!”

Granger looked at her in alarm. Bellatrix couldn’t see why. “You think your father’s going to lock you up?”

“Well, doesn’t yours?”

“No! Bella, most fathers don’t lock their children up!”

“You called me Bella.”

“Wha- oh. Sorry. Bellatrix.”

“No, I liked it.”

“Oh.”

“Well, I’m going to go talk to Dumbledore. See you.”

“Ok.”

Granger was acting weird. Weirder than usual, at least. Oh, well- Bellatrix had something to do.

“Professor Dumbledore?”

“Ah! Ms. Black, how are you?”

“Fine. Granger told me you were planning on- on mentioning us all during the end of term banquet.”

“Well, yes, you did a very admirable thing, waiting to let me know about your friends and then going down to help them.”

“Potter and Weasley aren’t my friends.”

“My apologies, Ms. Black.”

“Well- it’s just, could you maybe not? I don’t even think the Dumb Duo know I’ve been helping them, and I’d rather they didn’t. Along with the rest of the school. See, it’s not really, er, expected of a- Black. To help other people, really, especially Gryffindors, and my father would definitely not be pleased if he learned I’d befriended a- well, Granger.”

“You wish for me to keep your involvement in this event private.”

“Yes. And any other future events. Please.”

Dumbledore fixed her with a stare that made her feel quite as if he could see everything about her, before nodding. “Very well, Ms. Black. I will still be awarding 50 points to Slytherin.”

“I have no problem with that, Professor. Thank you.”

She shifted awkwardly for a moment before turning and walking out the door.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione and Bellatrix sat looking at the sheets of paper before them. Their exam results, both turned over, yet to be looked at.

“Same time?”

“Sure. Three- two- one-”

They both flipped the papers over, and read through their results. Granger visibly relaxed, and Bellatrix grinned. “We tied! First place!”

“It’s not a race, Bella.”

Bellatrix stuck her tongue out at Granger and tried to ignore the fuzzy feeling she still got whenever she called her “Bella”.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That year, Gryffindor won the house cup, with Slytherin in a very close second. No one knew where the 50 points had come from, but they knew they had helped them beat out Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, so no one complained.

Hermione and Bellatrix reluctantly agreed to not write over the summer, although Hermione promised she would come up with a way for them to communicate in future years without detection. They parted ways with the promise of “see you next year”, and went off to their own worlds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Part two soon to come.


	6. Part 2: Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for non consensual touching

**Part 2: Chapter 1**

“This is absolutely outrageous! What are all of these people doing here?” 

Bellatrix groaned inwardly as her mother’s voice carried over the chattering of voices outside of Flourish and Blotts. Yes, she supposed she  _ did _ have a point, there was an awfully large crowd, but she didn’t have to  _ shout _ it. But of course, it was her mother, and she had to make a big deal out of everything, and insult everyone while she did it, because nothing was  _ ever _ satisfactory for her, from lines outside of a bookstore to her own daughters.

The crowd parted for them, courtesy of her mother’s status, and Bellatrix could see what all the fuss was about from a large sign posted in the window:

GILDEROY LOCKHART

Will be signing copies of his autobiography

_ MAGICAL ME _

Today 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm

It was just her luck, really, that the one day they chose to go to Diagon alley there was a massive celebrity signing books, and she was rather surprised her mother didn’t know about it, but she had said that they had to meet up with….

“Lady Black. What a pleasure it is to see you.”

“And you as well, Lord Malfoy.” Bellatrix resisted the urge to roll her eyes at their insistence at always calling each other by their official titles. Abraxas Malfoy did not deign to greet her, and they left her to awkwardly nod at Draco.

“Your father not joining you today?”

“He’ll be here shortly. Is Lucius here?”

“We left him at home. He’s far too young to be strolling through Borgin and Burkes.” Bellatrix privately thought that Lucius would have loved seeing all the dark artifacts, but kept that to herself. They had just started into the bookstore when a voice exclaimed, “It can’t be Harry Potter!”

And, sure enough, Potter was being pulled up to stand next to Lockhart as the photographer snapped away, clouds of smoke wafting over a crowd of redheads along with a mane of bushy hair-

“Bet you loved that, didn’t you, Potter?” Before she knew it, she was standing with Draco and talking to the one and only Potter. “ _ Famous _ Harry Potter. Can’t even go into a  _ bookshop _ without making the front page.”

A small girl spoke up, “Leave him alone, he didn’t want all that!”

“Potter, you’ve got yourself a  _ girlfriend _ !”

Bellatrix swore inwardly as Granger and Weasley came over, staggering under the weight of the numerous books. She watched in near agony as Draco began insulting Weasley, and then Abraxas came over to insult the Big Weasley. And she thought she’d never been more mortified when her own  _ mother _ came over to insult a couple who could have only been the Granger’s, saying, “Bringing those filthy muggles into a shop, this whole society has gone to the dogs-”

Mr. Weasley looked as though he would like nothing better than to launch himself at her, and honestly, she couldn’t blame him. “Mrs. Black, I assure you, you would do well to not waste your time dealing with these people,” sneered Abraxas Malfoy. “They’re hardly worth the dust on our shoes-”

This time, Mr. Weasley did attack, and all of a sudden there were bookcases falling and Mrs. Weasley was screaming for her husband to stop, and then Hagrid came and picked them both up like ragdolls. 

“What is going on here?” She froze when she heard her father’s voice coming from the entrance of the shop.

Oh,  _ shit. _

“This man just  _ attacked _ me-”

“You insulted me and my family!”

“Well, you don’t exactly make it hard to do-”

“Will you put him down, you filthy beast?” Hagrid, who was still holding the two men up by the scruff of their necks, glared at her father, and dumped Abraxas unceremoniously on the ground, before placing Mr. Weasley down carefully. “Good job,” crooned her father. “Maybe I’ll even give you a treat-”

“Hey! Who the hell do you think you are?” demanded Potter. This was really not good, Bellatrix thought, the situation really could not have gotten worse- it was rather common knowledge that the trio were good friends with Hagrid, and of course because they were Gryffindors they would jump to his defense and this wouldn’t happen if her father wasn’t such an- an  _ arse _ , but here they were.

“I am the Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black,  _ boy _ . Learn to mind your betters.”

“Now, Cygnus, you can’t expect much of the boy, after all, he was raised by  _ muggles _ ,” spat Abraxas, brushing himself off.

“Better than being raised by the likes of you.” Oh, no, Granger, Bellatrix silently pleaded, please don’t get involved with this.

Abraxas regarded her coolly. “And you must be Ms. Granger. Yes, Draco’s told me  _ all about you _ .” 

Way to make it creepy, Abraxas.

“Well,  _ our _ daughter has never mentioned her. But I wouldn’t expect her to associate with the likes of you, filthy mudblood, isn’t that right, Bellatrix?” 

Leave it to her father to drag her into something like this. “Of course not, father.”

She met Granger’s eyes for a brief second, enough to see the hurt in them, before she looked away.

Her mother sniffed. “Well, now that we’ve seen the riff raff allowed in this shop, I think we would be better suited finding business elsewhere. Come, Bellatrix.”

Without looking back at the group, Bellatrix followed her parents out of the shop.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I can’t believe anyone would be so rude!”

“Harry-”

“I mean, how could they?”

“You’re absolutely right, mate, they were completely out of order-”

“What was it they called you, ‘Mione?  _ Mudblood _ ? What does that even mean?”

Ron looked down awkwardly. After the scene in the bookshop, her parents had allowed her to go over to the burrow, and they were sitting in Ron’s room.

“It means dirty blood, Harry. It’s a- slur, sort of, for muggleborns.”

“That’s- that’s horrible!”

“It is. There are some people, like the Malfoys or the Blacks, that think they’re so much better than other people because they’re ‘purebloods’. It’s bloody disgusting, mate, but that’s how it is.”

Harry looked indignant. “Well, now we know why their kids are so awful-”

Hermione, feeling as if she should probably defend Bellatrix even if she was still a bit mad at her, said, “Bellatrix isn’t so bad, you know.”

“Not so bad! Has she ever called you a- a mudblood?”

Hermione thought back to the first time she had met Bellatrix. “Well-”

“See? Sure, she’s never been as bad as Draco, but she’s never exactly done anything for us, either!”

Except sort of save your life, thought Hermione. She wondered if this would be a bad time to bring that up.

“And did you hear her? She was all, of course I’d never associate with these people, father, as if we hadn’t saved her from a troll-”

“Look, boys, it doesn’t matter, really. Maybe they’ll grow out of it. Children are very impressionable, and look at who they grew up with!”

“I still think they’re both awful. ‘Mione, have you started your summer work yet?”

“You haven’t? Harry, honestly…”

Later that night, once she’d gotten home, she lay awake thinking. Had Bellatrix really meant it when she’d turned up her nose at her, or was it just to please her father? She wished she had a way to communicate with her, but she had insisted against any contact.

As if the universe wished to contradict her, an owl Hermione distinctly recognized as Bellatrix’s tapped on her window.

After a moment of shock, she rushed to open the window and let the owl in.There was a crumpled piece of parchment tied to the leg, as if someone hadn’t had a lot of time to send it.

She untied it and led the owl to the small perch she used whenever Errol came, and uncrumpled the parchment.

_ Granger- _

_ Sorry abt today (or yestday, dpends on hw fast hermes gets there, i have no idea whre you live), my parents were completely and horribly rude and I know they’re nevr going to aplogize, so ill do it- sorry. And sorry abt anthing i did, if father knw we wer friends it wold probly be vry bad (fr me at least) so rlly anthing i say w him around jst ignor, don’t writ bac sometimes mail get intrcpted an i woldn’t wnt him seeing that but i had to send smthing. C u septmbr 1! _

_ -bella _

To Hermione’s credit, she got through this letter with relative ease- after an entire year of reading Bellatrix’s… questionable spelling (which was usually quite good, but declined when she was in a rush) she was used to it. It was a relief to know that Bellatrix had not actually spurned her, and it made her smirk a bit when she referred to her as her friend (something Bellatrix often denied). Knowing all was well, Hermione placed the letter on her nightstand and went to sleep.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re coming back for break, right, Bella?”

“Of course, Cissy, I’ll see you at Yule.”

“Send us letters?”

“Yes, Andy, I will.”

“Bellatrix! Let’s go!” 

“I’ll see you both at the holidays.” Kissing her younger sisters on the head, Bellatrix got up to meet her father by the floo, where he was waiting impatiently. “I’m ready.”

“About time. Go ahead.”

_ I’ll miss you too, father _ , Bellatrix sneered (in her head, of course, she wouldn’t  _ dare _ talk back to her father out loud), and stepped into the floo. “Kings Cross station!”

Bellatrix rather hated floo travel- it was dizzying, and she could never quite remember to tuck her elbows in. She far preferred it to her father apparating her to the platform, however- at least this way she could go without him.

She lugged her trunk out of the fireplace and towards the train, hoping to be able to find an empty compartment- she did not want to sit with Parkinson (or, Merlin forbid, Rodolphus), and knew she couldn’t sit with Granger and the Dumb Duo.

However, she did not have much luck, and had to grab onto a nearby door when the train started, as she was still standing in the aisle. She was just about to give up hope when she passed Granger’s compartment, in which she was the only inhabitant.

Not really knowing why she was alone but not really caring, Bellatrix opened the door. “Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead. Ron and Harry aren’t here, I didn’t see them on the platform.” 

Bellatrix frowned. “Well, maybe they missed the train?”

“It’s possible. The Weasleys were really late. I saw them and I was waiting for Harry and Ron to come out, but they never did.”

“Dear Merlin, imagine if they actually missed it.”

“It would be just like them, really. But how will they get to Hogwarts?”

“You’d think a teacher would come get them. Or Weasley’s parents would bring them there? But I can’t imagine they would think rationally about this- maybe they’ll fly there on Potter’s broom!”

Hermione snorted, then went very pale. “Oh, god….”

“I was joking, they probably wouldn’t-”

“The Weasleys have a flying car.”

Bellatrix’s eyes widened and she stared at Hermione, then asked in a small voice, “Did they drive that here?” Hermione nodded. 

“Sweet Morgana, I think they might’ve actually done it.”

“Oh,  _ god _ ,” Hermione groaned, putting her head in her hands. “I don’t want to believe they would, but they’ve never been very smart- why do you think they couldn’t get through?”

“I dunno. Maybe it closes at 11:00?”

Hermione let out a whimper and shook her head. “I can’t  _ believe  _ them….”

“Well, maybe they actually did the sensible thing?”

They looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione couldn’t believe they’d actually done it. And, not to mention, they’d  _ crashed into a tree! _ A Whomping Willow, to be exact! She felt that the Howler was a fit punishment, however, and went back to being friendly once Ron had been properly mortified.

She and Ron were eating breakfast out on the grounds when they spotted Harry with the rest of the team going to the pitch. “Aren’t you done yet?” asked Ron.

“Haven’t even started yet,” Harry said grimly, looking longingly at the food they held in their hands. “Wood’s been teaching us new moves.”

They watched their practice from the side, and Hermione finished up her breakfast. Then, the Slytherin team came in, carrying sleek looking brooms. The two teams met each other on the field. “I smell trouble,” Ron muttered, and they made their way over.

Malfoy was busy showing off the brooms his father had bought for the team, and was taking the opportunity to insult the Weasleys. When he bragged about how  _ he _ could afford the best, she couldn’t help but blurt out, “At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent.”

He sneered at her. “No one asked for your opinion, you filthy little  _ mudblood. _ ”

Well, she supposed she had to thank Bellatrix- if not for her, she would have had no idea why that had garnered such a strong reaction. Fred and George leaped at Malfoy, only to be blocked by Marcus Flint, who threw his arm out in front of Malfoy. Alicia Spinnet cried, “How dare you?!” Hermione supposed it was nice of them to jump to her defense.

But the catalyst was when Ron shot a spell at Malfoy, and it backfired, throwing him to the ground. “Ron! Ron! Are you alright?”

Ron sat up, looking rather sick, and then spewed slugs all over the ground.

She and Harry rushed over to help him up, and Harry said something about getting to Hagrids. Colin Creevey rushed up to them with his camera and started babbling away, but Harry said, “Get out of the way, Colin!”

A bit rude, but Ron wasn’t looking too good, so they rushed to the little hut, where Hagrid gave them a bucket and sat them down with some treacle toffee. Hermione felt a bit like her teeth were being glued together, and swallowed forcefully before joining into the conversation, Hagrid telling them not to worry about it and to not pay those people any mind.

And despite the fact that she’d already been telling herself this, hearing Hagrid say it made her feel a bit better.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next month or so, Bellatrix met up with Granger religiously in the library on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. They worked on homework, and Bellatrix tried her hardest to convince Granger that  _ Snape is a vampire, I swear _ , a rather difficult task considering she didn’t know much about vampires and knew even less about Severus Snape. But she was persistent (one of her best personality traits, though Granger didn’t seem to think so), and so she brought it up every time Snape was mentioned in conversation. 

Sometime in this period, Granger mentioned that Potter suspected someone had it out for him this year- a house elf had tried to stop him going to Hogwarts, and he had not been able to get through the barrier. Bellatrix could think of several ways he could have remedied both of those situations without extreme repercussions (just because one says they won’t go to school doesn’t mean they have to uphold that promise, honestly, Gryffindors were so  _ noble _ ), and said she hoped Potter got smarter before someone started really trying to kill him. 

Granger did not find this funny.

A large source of grief for Granger nearing the end of October was Potter’s agreeing to attend Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party (which Bellatrix thought was an absolutely morbid idea in general), and roping her and Weasley in. Bellatrix thought this was terribly funny, and told Granger she would eat extra at the feast to make up for their unfortunate absence. 

When the feast was over, and she was heading back to the common room with the rest of her house, they came across a great crowd. She followed Draco as he pushed his way through the crowd, and heard him say, “Enemies of the heir, beware? You’ll be next, mudbloods.”

Peering over his shoulder (something that took considerable effort on her part, as Bellatrix, much to her dismay, was rather short), she saw red lettering on the wall (dear Merlin, was that  _ blood _ ?) saying: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.

Underneath was a cat- Mrs. Norris. Bellatrix couldn’t quite see what was wrong with her, but it became apparent when Filch came along and picked her up tenderly- she was petrified.

People started muttering among themselves, and Bellatrix soon saw why- Granger, Potter, and Weasley were standing right next to the scene, looking rather bewildered. Dumbledore pushed through the crowd, and ordered everyone to bed- except, naturally, the three of them.

Having no choice but to go back to the common room, Bellatrix allowed herself to be led by the prefects down the corridor and into the dungeons.

When she sat down on a plush armchair, she could overhear a conversation going on next to her between several other students in her year.

“Draco, do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?” Parkinson asked in a flirty tone (she had recently taken to hanging off of Draco’s arm at all times, something Bellatrix found absolutely repulsive). 

“Not much. But the heir- that means the heir of Slytherin, obviously. Salazar himself left a secret chamber in the school with a fabled monster that only his heir could control. That heir would rid the school of anyone unworthy.”

“Mudbloods,” Crabbe (or Goyle, she never could tell them apart) grunted. 

“Uh huh. Unworthy,” the other one grunted. Sometimes it seemed that all they could do was grunt.

“Well, whoever it is, they’ll have plenty to choose from. They’ve really let the- infestation get carried away recently,” sneered Nott. 

“Bellatrix.”

She jumped when she heard a low growl in her ear and cursed herself for her stupidity. She had managed to avoid Rodolphus so far through carefully planned exits from the library (after much trial and error, she had figured out when he went to sleep), but now, with everything going on, it had slipped her mind to run off to the library.

“What do you want, Rodolphus?” she asked when it became clear he would not be leaving.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Well, perhaps that is because I don’t wish to see you.”

“And why wouldn’t you?” He pressed closer, and she inched away from him as much as she could with his arm wrapped like a vice around her waist. “I am your intended, after all.”

“In name only,” she growled. “Now leave me  _ alone _ .” She emphasized her last word with a push, which unfortunately didn’t do much because in addition to being small she was also not very strong.

“Now, now,  _ Bella _ , that isn’t a good way to treat your future husband.”

“Go  _ away _ .”

He didn’t- instead, he pressed her into the back of the armchair, making it difficult to breathe. “Rodolphus, I swear I’ll scr-”

He cut her off by clamping his hand over her mouth. “I don’t think so. Look around, sweetheart. No one cares.”

On further inspection of the room, it appeared that he was right. The people that noticed what was happening didn’t seem very inclined to do anything about it- Rodolphus was an important figure, after all, and it was no secret that he was betrothed to her. 

“Now, you’re gonna do what I tell you-”

“Mr. Lestrange.”

Bellatrix, frankly, had never been more glad to hear Snape’s voice.

“Professor Snape.” Even Rodolphus had the decency to look uncomfortable when caught in this rather- compromising position.

“I believe I asked you to be in detention 15 minutes ago. Despite the… happenings around the school, you are not exempt from punishments. My office, now.”

Bellatrix gasped for air as Rodolphus loosened his hand and coolly said, “Yes, sir.” Getting up, he leaned over to whisper, “Next time,” in her ear before following Snape out of the room.

“Er- Bellatrix?” came a timid voice behind her- Pansy Parkinson. Just what she needed.

“What do you want, Parkinson?” To her dismay, her voice came out raspy instead of snide.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” she snapped. “Now sod off.”

Parkinson blinked at her, then shrugged and went to go sit by Draco.

That night, Bellatrix didn’t get much sleep- she spent much of the night figuring out a way to avoid Rodolphus at all costs. Of course, this wouldn’t be of much use over the holidays, when they would be expected to spend time together. 

As a result, she was rather cranky the next day, and snapped at everyone who tried to talk to her. She tried to calm herself down when she went to meet Granger in the library, but was still on edge.

Granger, for once, was not doing homework- she had several large tomes in front of her (one of which was Hogwarts, A History, which had been tossed aside in frustration). “What are you doing, Granger?” Okay, that came out a  _ bit _ harsher than she’d intended.

“I’m researching the Chamber of Secrets,” she said absentmindedly, flipping a page.

Bellatrix wrinkled her brow in confusion. “Why?”

Hermione frowned at her. “What do you mean,  _ why _ ? Did you not see the wall last night?”

“Yeah, I saw it, but it’s not like it’s overly pressing.”

“It’s not overly pressing?”

“Well, it’s just not- a main concern of mine, right now, alright? I’ve got bigger things to worry about. It doesn’t really matter, anyway. The stupid cat’ll be fine.”

Granger slammed the book down on the table, causing Madam Pince to look at her severely, but she paid her no mind, which should have tipped Bellatrix off that something was wrong.

“ _ It doesn’t really matter _ ?! Did you see what was written there? Whoever did this is going to be targeting people next, students at this school! How does that not matter?”

“Well, they’ll just be petrified!”

“ _ Just?! _ I’ve looked up accounts of it, Bellatrix, and it’s not an altogether pleasant experience!”

“Look, Granger, I don’t really care, okay?” Bellatrix snapped.

“How could you not care?!”

“I’ve got other things going on! And it’s not like I’m muggleborn, anyway, so what does it matter?”

They were both standing now, and drawing quite a lot of attention from the others in the library (who, thankfully, never commented on them sitting together- they were, after all, mostly Ravenclaws or older students, and did not seem to want to bother with their affairs). Granger was doing a magnificent impression of McGonagall- her nostrils flared, lips thin.

Suddenly, Granger began throwing things into her bag. “Where are you going?” Bellatrix snapped.

“The Gryffindor Common Room. At least they can open their eyes and see things that don’t directly affect them-”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve got more pressing concerns right now! And I’ll be perfectly fine-”

“Oh, yes, well, as long as  _ you’re _ fine, everything will be alright! Including your  _ muggle born friend _ !”

It finally dawned on Bellatrix what Granger was so upset about. She was so startled at this revelation, that all she could do was stare at her.

“Finally realized it, then? But of course, it’s nothing to worry about, because if I get attacked then I’ll  _ just be petrified _ , not to mention there are a million other things that could happen! But I suppose, it wouldn’t be happening to  _ you _ , so naturally everything will be fine!”

“Granger-”

“Even if I wasn’t muggleborn, Bellatrix, you should still be concerned! Somebody in our school is targeting people, that’s nothing to turn your nose up at!”

“I didn’t mean-”

“You didn’t mean to be an insensitive prick? Well, you’ve done it anyway!”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind!”

“Well, then, enlighten me, what was this all-important thing consuming your thoughts? Hmm?”

Bellatrix gulped, suddenly very aware that everyone in the library had turned to stare at them. Madam Pince cleared her throat pointedly, and Bellatrix could feel her face getting hot (a rare occurrence, as Bellatrix had been taught to live her life without shame). 

Granger narrowed her eyes. “Goodbye.”

“No, Granger, wait-”

“ _ Goodbye _ , Bellatrix.”

She wrenched her arm out of her grasp, and stormed toward the door, and Bellatrix could do nothing as she stalked into the corridor, bag swinging at her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Bella :((((   
> Thanks for reading!


	7. Part 2: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for non consensual touching

**Part 2: Chapter 2**

For all of their faults, Harry and Ron knew not to press when Hermione was in a ‘mood’. Which was good for her- she did not want to admit that they had likely been right about Bellatrix being so  _ close-minded _ as to not even care when there was a threat hanging over a large amount of the student population. (Another possible explanation was that the boys hadn’t noticed she was mad, but she liked to believe that they had some redeeming qualities). When Hermione had gone to the library the next week, she had pointedly marched herself to the farthest table from Bellatrix that she could find (scaring quite a few first years in the process), taken out her homework and determinedly plowed through (although it felt odd doing it without Bellatrix, but that was okay because she was rather mad at her right now). 

She was soon distracted by the first match, in which a Bludger seemed to have single-minded focus on knocking Harry off his broom, and then by Colin Creevey’s subsequent petrification. And then, of course, the astonishing revelation that Harry was a parselmouth caused the entire school to think that he was the heir, which was ridiculous if you thought about it because he was friends with a muggleborn (although being friends with a muggleborn had not stopped  _ Bellatrix  _ from being stubbornly blasé about the whole thing.  _ She _ had seemed to find the whole thing hilarious, and was joining in with Malfoy’s teasing.)

And then, not finding enough information on the Chamber of Secrets in the library (an odd occurrence for her), she had asked Professor Binns, leading to the only lecture that everyone in the class paid their full attention to in perhaps his entire teaching history.

All she got from that, however, was a frightening resolve from Harry and Ron to unmask Malfoy as the heir of Slytherin, something she frankly went along with so that they didn’t get themselves expelled.

Which, of course, led to a plan that would probably get them expelled.

Several times in the brewing process, she was sorely tempted to just ask Bellatrix about Malfoy, which she almost did several times out of habit before reminding herself that she was not speaking to Bellatrix, because she still did not seem overly concerned with the whole Chamber of Secrets business, even though a student was now lying prone in a hospital bed because of it.

Over the holidays, they were finally able to put her plan in motion, when she completely messed up- cat hair! Why, why did she have to pluck a cat hair from Bulstrode’s robes?

Harry and Ron were supportive about it (as supportive as they could be, at least), despite being rather upset that their interrogation of Malfoy had yielded little results. They were quick to reassure her that she was not going to fall behind in class (although Ron was also quick to poke fun at the way she had outlined Lockhart’s classes with hearts, even though that had been  _ Bellatrix’s  _ idea), and to reassure her that people were taking the spreading rumors well- word had spread about the reason for her absence. According to them, everyone but the Slytherins were rather nice about it- Draco had been delighted, and apparently Bellatrix had laughed very meanly along with Pansy Parkinson (because they were apparently friends now). 

Hermione was beginning to get concerned. Harry had just found Justin Finch-Fetchley in the hallway, after hearing the voices again, and now the Hufflepuffs were avoiding him. He had also found a diary that gave some disturbing news- Hermione did not want to believe that Hagrid had opened the Chamber, but he did have an odd preoccupation with beasts, and why were there dead roosters everywhere? 

As she always did when she was worried, Hermione turned to the library. She figured she might as well start with magical beasts- it must be a beast, after all, because if it wasn’t then there was no hope of ever finding the one responsible.

She regretted leaving Harry’s game when she suddenly had a suspicion about the monster, but they were going to win anyway, Hufflepuff didn’t stand a chance, especially with how scared they were of Harry. And she needed to do research.

She had almost consigned herself to giving up when she found it.  _ The Basilisk _ . Emblem of Slytherin, albeit a larger version- check. Causing spiders to flee the grounds- check. Dead roosters, their greatest weakness- check. Petrified people, who hadn’t quite managed to look it in the eyes- check.

Swallowing nervously, Hermione fumbled around in her pockets and pulled out her wand, transfiguring her quill into a small mirror. Then she ripped the page out of the book (something she really regretted doing), scribbled one word, and crumpled it up in her hand.

Leaping out of her seat, she rushed to the door and, after checking around the corner with the mirror, ran out into the corridor. She had one objective in mind-  _ tell someone _ . Anyone, really, that she met on the way, everyone needed to know.

The first person she ran into was a 6th year Ravenclaw that she knew by reputation alone. She often spent time with Percy, which was one of the only reasons she knew who she even was, and that she was, in fact, muggleborn.

“Penelope!”

“Er- Hermione, right?”

“Yes. Look, you need to start carrying a mirror around.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve figured it out, the thing that’s petrifying students, it’s a basilisk.”

“A basilisk? But wouldn’t someone have noticed?”

“No- I’ve figured that out, too, it’s using the pipes to get around school.”

Penelope stared at her for a moment. “I- why a mirror?”

“If you look at it directly it’ll kill you. Thankfully no one has yet- but you should check around corners for it.”

Penelope considered her for a moment, before nodding. She pulled out her own wand and conjured up a mirror.

“I’ll be sure to do that. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

They both set off in opposite directions. Hermione was heading to the Entrance Hall when she heard it.

There was a great scraping sound coming from around the corner, and she froze. She heard a soft hiss, and she crept along the corridor, clutching her mirror. Holding it up so she could look around the corner, she saw a great, coiling body. It was facing away from her now, but she wasn’t able to move quick enough, and it turned.

Her vision was filled with the reflection of a pair of yellow spotlight eyes, before she felt her body freezing up and her vision going dark.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was absolutely  _ miserable _ . These last couple months, she had taken to spending time with  _ Parkinson _ . Parkinson! Of all people! But she was at least sympathetic about her plight (the one with Rodolphus, that is- no one in Slytherin house knew about Granger, because they didn’t like the library), and now Bellatrix was able to surround herself with other students to keep unwanted people away.

Still, she missed Granger, who wasn’t speaking to her  _ at all _ , which was completely unreasonable because she was overreacting because Bellatrix hadn’t done anything  _ wrong _ , not really, it’s not like Granger was going to get petrified or anything because- well, she just  _ wouldn’t _ , okay? (To be fair, Bellatrix had taken to joining Draco in his teasings of other students, something that couldn’t have been earning her any points with Granger).

But, really, Granger was the one being insensitive, because Bellatrix was having a horrible time, especially over the holidays, because her  _ stupid _ relatives had forced her into a room with Rodolphus, and while he seemed to at least respect the fact that she could go running to her father if he went to far, she still couldn’t tell with the harsh touches and kisses, because according to her father, he was  _ supposed _ to be doing that, and if you complain again, young lady, you won’t eat for the rest of break. 

And now she was getting dragged to the Quidditch field, which wasn’t something she did unless Slytherin was playing because while she did love flying, she didn’t care for loud crowds. But apparently Parkinson did, and they were- acquaintances, now, so she felt obligated to.

However, the match wasn’t starting, and there were teachers striding onto the field.

Professor Dumbledore, who didn’t usually come to matches, was making an announcement. “All students please report to your common rooms immediately and await further instructions from your Heads of House.”

She followed the crowd back to the dungeons, with people chattering away with theories about what had happened. The most prominent: a student had been petrified again.

She stuck close to her fellow 2nd years in the common room, and the room fell silent as Snape strode into the middle and, looking like an overgrown bat, turned to look at them all. His long black robes that he wore like a cape just reinforced her theory that Snape was a vampire, but then this made her sad because Granger wasn’t there to roll her eyes and admonish her for her ‘ridiculous theories’. 

“As you may have guessed, there has been another…  _ incident _ . The staff has decided that new rules will be enforced. Students will be escorted to each class by a teacher. No one is to leave the castle except for classes. Everyone will return back to their common room by 6:00. I have been instructed to warn you that, if the culprit is not stopped, the school will likely be closed, and I will never have to deal with this insufferable job again. Any questions?” He looked around at all of them with a hard glare.

“Who’s been petrified this time?” This came from Draco, because of course it did.

“Ms. Penelope Clearwater and…” he looked straight at Bellatrix “... Ms. Hermione Granger.”

_ Granger. _

Distantly, she was aware of Draco saying, “Excellent,” and Snape admonishing, “Mr. Malfoy, if you are going to actively hope for your classmates to come to harm, I advise you to do it quietly.”

“Certainly, professor. But, really, who cares? She’s just some filthy mudblood-”

“ _ Shut your mouth, Draco,” _ Bellatrix snarled.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re actually defending Granger now.”

_ Shit. _ Bellatrix racked her brain to think of something to say. “You heard Professor Snape, Draco. Keep spouting things like this and people will think  _ you’re _ the heir next.”

“Oh, please. Just because my father tells me things doesn’t mean I’m the heir. Don’t be ridiculous, I was at the match the whole time.”

Snape gave her a look that reinforced her  _ other _ theory that he could read minds (was mind reading something vampires could do?). She knew he knew she was, well,  _ attached _ to Granger. He probably also knew they’d been fighting- it seemed like the kind of thing he would know.

“Well that is all. If there are any further updates I will be forced to hold another one of these to let you know. For now, go back to whatever mundane tasks you were doing before the game. If you have any further questions…” He glared at them, “... know that I will be locking myself in my office and will be unavailable for badgering.”

He turned and swept away, and Bellatrix went to run after him.

“Professor Snape! Can I go-”

“You may not.”

“But Professor-”

“Ms. Black, no one is allowed to visit the hospital wing without a valid reason.”

Now she knew he was reading her mind- how else would he know she wanted to go to the hospital wing?

“But I have to-”

“I don’t make the rules, Ms. Black. Now goodnight.”

She groaned in frustration before turning back to go to her seat, only to be blocked by Rodolphus.

“Well, looky here. Snape’s all locked up in his office, and he probably won’t be out for  _ hours _ \- how lucky.”

“Rodolphus, not now-”

“Says who?  _ You _ ? Hate to disappoint you, dear, but I say  _ now _ , you are going to come with me back to my spot and sit with me. Understood?”

Yes, she definitely hated Rodolphus more than her father. It was official. He grabbed her hard enough to bruise and dragged her to his group of friends, who looked much scarier in the firelight.

“You’re going to be spending a lot of time with us, aren’t you,  _ Bella _ ?” Rabastan sneered. 

“Rodolphus, let me  _ go _ -”

“No more running off to the library for you, girly.”

“Or hiding with your little friends.”

“They won’t protect you. You see them doing anything?” 

She felt tears spring into her eyes, which hadn’t happened in years, and she pushed them down.  _ Blacks don’t cry _ , something her father had drilled into her head.

She stopped struggling when his hand went back to her throat and squeezed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following week was one of the worst of Bellatrix’s life. She was confined to the Common Room, something she was not very pleased about, and every time she tried to get into the hospital wing, she was sent off with the same, “Ms. Black, please, we’re not allowing visitors, go back to your common room,” and she was left to stalk away to the dungeons where she would have to see  _ Rodolphus _ . She couldn’t think of a single way to get into the hospital wing short of hexing Madam Pomfrey and storming in. This seemed a bit extreme, however, so she decided to think on it more.

The idea came when she was in Potions, and Longbottom spilled his brew all over himself. It was supposed to be harmless, but it had been made wrong, so it sizzled on his skin and he howled. 

Snape rolled his eyes and vanished the mess. “Everybody stay here, I must escort Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Perhaps this will teach him the dangers of getting instructions wrong.”

Of course! It was so simple! If she wanted to get into the hospital wing, she would just have to injure herself! It was a wonder she hadn’t thought of this before. Ignoring the odd looks from her classmates (she had shouted out, “Eureka!”, a trait she’d picked up from Granger), she started devising her plan.

That evening on her way down to the dungeons after dinner, she ‘tripped’ and fell down an entire flight of stairs. On the way down she thought she felt a couple of ribs crack, and her foot was definitely not supposed to look like that, so she determined this plan a success.

“Bellatrix, are you alright?”

“Bellatrix, what happened?”

“Everyone out of the way. Prefects, lead the rest of the students to the common room.”

Snape was looking at her rather suspiciously. This was either because he had read her mind, or he knew it hadn’t been an accident (to be fair, it had looked less like tripping and more like a great, flying leap), but all the same he helped her to her feet and wordlessly led her to the hospital wing.

When they got there, she thought she might actually have to stay the night, because her ribs hurt quite a lot and she thought she might even have a concussion. This was going even better than she thought!

Madam Pomfrey sighed heavily when she found her at the door. “I told you, Ms. Black, we aren’t allowing visitors….”

“She has attempted to get in before?” Snape asked. “How surprising.” He gave her a look that suggested that he was not surprised in the least.

“Ah! Professor Snape, what are you doing here?”

“Ms. Black-  _ fell _ , down a flight of stairs with an extraordinary amount of force. It was really quite…  _ astonishing _ . I believe she may have broken a few bones.” Yes, he definitely knew.

Madam Pomfrey was shocked into silence for a moment, before shaking herself out of it. “Oh, well, alright, come in, then- here, sit on this bed, let me go get some supplies-”

To Bellatrix’s delight, she was sat down on the bed right next to Granger’s. It was really very frightening, to see her completely frozen like this, though she half expected her to launch into a tirade about some interesting fact she’d found in a book, or something a teacher had mentioned, or to berate Bellatrix for nearly everything she did.

Snape gave her one last look of resigned annoyance before crossing the room to join Professor McGonagall, who was there visiting Madam Pomfrey and checking in on some of the students- she was currently leaning over Creevey’s bed.

Bellatrix took this opportunity to get a closer look at Granger. She spotted something clenched in her hand- a piece of paper? It looked like it was from a library book, which must mean it was terribly important, because Granger would never rip a page out of a book unless it was, but before she could investigate further, Madam Pomfrey called, “Ms. Black, please sit back down!”

She hastily plopped down on the bed, and the nurse started running diagnostic spells. She determined that she did, in fact, have a concussion, along with a broken ankle and several fractured ribs. She was also told she would have to stay overnight. Thankfully, Bellatrix had planned for this (which was why such a forceful jump had been necessary) and already had her school bag.

She was given a few potions to help with the pain while she was healed, and then instructed to lay very still on the bed. She was offered a sleeping draught, meant to last 4 short hours, which Bellatrix hastily took.

After gulping down the potion, she rested her head down on the pillow, before turning it slightly to the side to face Hermione.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severus Snape was not the sort of man who thought many things funny. He rarely laughed, and when he did, it was in private, after a glass or two of Elvish wine. 

But Bellatrix Black of all people practically throwing herself down the stairs so she could go visit Hermione Granger, her  _ muggleborn _ friend? It was enough to make even him chuckle a bit, something that caused Minerva to look at him as if he had gone insane.

“What is it, Severus?”

Poppy pursed her lips. “It’s not very funny, Severus. She could have been seriously injured.”

Minerva turned to Poppy. “ _ Who _ ?”

Severus stopped laughing for a moment to answer. “It seems, Minerva, that Ms. Black has developed an attachment to Granger. She has already tried to get in several times, and has now resorted to jumping off of staircases to get in to see her.”

Minerva stared at him in disbelief. Then, she shook her head and started laughing. Poppy sent her a disapproving look. “Oh, not you, too. We’re lucky no other students have tried this.”

“Oh, no, the act itself isn’t funny. But do you know what, Severus?”

“What, Minerva?”

“I think it’s rather ironic that Ms. Black disparages the Gryffindors for reckless behavior, don’t you? I actually rather believe she was sorted into the wrong house.”

Severus had a sudden image of Bellatrix Black dashing off to warn Granger about a troll, and started laughing again.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Bellatrix woke up several hours later, the hospital wing was empty. She sat up in bed, gingerly touched her head, and slid out from under the covers. Grabbing her school bag, she grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Hermione.

“Hey, Gr- Hey, Hermione. I’m so sorry about everything, I was a complete and total  _ arse _ about so many things.” She sighed. “I don’t even know if you can hear me. I looked it up, and you were right, because of course you were, petrification isn’t a particularly pleasant process, and you can’t even  _ hear _ me….”

Bellatrix remembered the paper she’d seen clutched in Hermione’s fist, and set to work extracting it. It was clearly a page from a book. It read:

_ Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken’s egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it. _

There was a word scribbled on the page, in Hermione’s handwriting:  Pipes.

Bellatrix sat there for a moment, absorbing the information. This answered several questions- what was happening to these people, how the monster got around the school… she figured that everyone had looked at a reflection, including Hermione, who Bellatrix now realized had been holding a mirror in front of her.

Now she knew what the monster was. A major problem, however, was where the entrance was- and who had done it.

Well, she knew just who to ask to figure that out.

For now, though, Bellatrix settled down in her chair, and pulled out some of her notes. “I’ll figure this out, Hermione,” she promised. She stuffed the parchment back into Hermione’s fist- she would likely lose it in her bag.

Then she flicked to her Potions notes. “You know, I haven’t been doing well at all in Potions. I suppose you were much more helpful than I let on. And don’t worry, I’ve taken good notes in everything, I’ll lend them to you when it’s time for exams. You should be awake by then, Professor Sprout says the mandrakes’ll be ready soon.”

There was, of course, no answer.

“You know, I think Snape can read minds. There’s no other way he always knows what I’m up to. I wonder if vampires can read minds, I’ll have to research that. If they can, I think that’s another point for me.”

Still no answer. Bellatrix sighed, and set to work on her essay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Part 2: Chapter 3

**Part 2: Chapter 3**

After that visit, Madam Pomfrey had taken to letting Bellatrix into the hospital wing when she came. Bellatrix viewed this as a great personal success.

She still spent more time in the common room than she would have liked, but this would suit her purpose. One night, while Draco was bragging about how much his father had told him about the Chamber of Secrets, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to a side room.

“Cut the bullshit, Draco,” she hissed. “You don’t  _ really _ know anything about the Chamber, we both know that.”

He squirmed. “Do too!”

“Oh yeah?” she taunted. “I don’t believe it.”

“Father told me everything he knew,” Draco bragged. Merlin, even when she was trying to interrogate him he was still cocky.

“Like what?”

He smirked. “It was last opened 50 years ago. I would have expected your father to have told you-”

_ “Draco _ -”

“He also told me someone died. Good riddance, I say, hope it happens this time. Pity it wasn’t Granger-”

She smacked him. “Don’t get off topic. Who died?”

“Well, I don’t know. They covered it up. Bad publicity. Rumor has it she died in a bathroom.”

She could work with that. “Don’t tell anyone else about this.”

“Certainly. I wouldn’t want people knowing I told anyone.”

“Good.”

She stalked off to where Parkinson was sitting, and plopped down into a nearby armchair.

“Well you look cheery,” Parkinson muttered.

Bellatrix scowled. Couldn’t she tell she was trying to plot?

But Parkinson apparently could not take the hint, and beckoned Greengrass and Bulstrode over. “Look, Bellatrix, we want to talk to you.”

Well, if they insisted. “About what?”

“Look, we know the whole thing with Lestrange is really horrible, but you shouldn’t kill yourself!”

Wait, what?

“We know you didn’t actually fall down that flight of stairs. You shouldn’t have to hurt yourself in order to get out of seeing him.”

She just gaped at them. “Huh?”

Parkinson sighed. “Bellatrix, don’t act like you don’t know what we’re talking about. I saw you, you practically leaped off the stairs. It was a bit terrifying, really.” The rest of the girls nodded. Bellatrix was still very confused.

But Parkinson wasn’t done. “So that’s why we’re going to have one of us tagging you around for the next few weeks-”

“Wait a second-”

“-so you don’t hurt yourself. We’re worried about you, Bellatrix.”

Bellatrix couldn’t believe this. How was she going to go visit Hermione if Parkinson was following her everywhere? How was she supposed to even  _ think _ in her presence?

“I- that’s really alright, you don’t need to-”

“Yes, we do, and we’re going to,” snapped Greengrass. God, the one time she grows a backbone- wait a second,  _ god _ ? That was certainly new.

Bellatrix couldn’t see any way she could argue with them, and so resigned herself to her fate, letting them lead her up to the dormitories.

She was silently fuming in her bed. She didn’t want people following her around everywhere- now she wouldn’t even be able to go to the bloody  _ bathroom _ alone-

_ Bathroom _ . Suddenly, she leaped out of bed.  _ Why didn’t she see it before _ ?

Throwing on her clothes, and making sure everyone was asleep, she snuck out of the dorm. No one was in the common room, so she swung open the door and crept out into the corridor. She plotted out the best course to the girls’ bathroom- she was fairly confident in her abilities to sneak around the teachers.

Sure enough, she managed to get past Snape and McGonagall, dove into a nearby passageway to avoid Sinastra and Sprout, and hid behind a tapestry when Lockhart and Flitwick came around the corner, the former saying loudly that he knew  _ exactly  _ where to find the chamber. She scoffed under her breath, seriously doubting this.

Finally, she got to the bathroom, and squeezed through the door. 

There was a horrible sobbing sound coming from one of the stalls, a usual occurrence in this particular bathroom. Bellatrix knocked on the door, and the sobbing stopped. “Who is it?”

“Could you come out? I need to talk to you.”

Moaning Myrtle came floating out of the stall, peering at Bellatrix through her glasses. “Who are  _ you _ ?”

“I’m Bellatrix. I wanted to, er-” Bellatrix paused. How, exactly, did one ask someone how they died? Nothing to do but go for it. “I wanted to ask how you died.”

Instead of looking offended, Myrtle actually looked flattered (something Bellatrix found very odd), and giggled. “Ooh. No one’s ever asked me that before. I was-”

“Wait a second.” Myrtle stopped short. “You mean to tell me that  _ no one _ has ever bothered to ask you how you died?  _ Ever _ ?”

“Nope. Now,  _ as I was saying _ , I was hiding out in that stall right there, because Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses, when I heard someone come in. And they started talking in some sort of made up language. I could tell it was a boy speaking, so I opened the door to tell him to go away, couldn’t he tell this was the girls room? And then I died.”

“Just like that?”

“Mmhmm. I remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there, by the sink. Ooh, you should have seen the look on Olive Hornby’s face when she came in here looking for me. I haunted her for years, until the Ministry told me to go back to my stall.”

“So you were the girl that died 50 years ago, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened?” Myrtle nodded. “And, again,  _ no one _ even  _ bothered _ to ask how you died? Everyone was trying to figure out what happened, and you were  _ right there _ , and no one asked? Why would anyone be so  _ stupid _ ?”

“Ooh, I like you. You’re much smarter than my usual visitors- there’s always some that come in here for some privacy.”

“You said that sink?” Bellatrix asked, walking over to it.

“Yep. It doesn’t work, though.”

Bellatrix examined the whole thing, until she found a little snake curled up.  _ You have to be a Parselmouth to enter. _ Well, that certainly narrowed down the search.

But, no, it couldn’t be Potter. Why on earth would he want to attack Granger? And, quite frankly, she couldn’t think of anyone  _ really _ in the school who would want to petrify people- nearly all of the Slytherins had been at the last Quidditch match.

“Myrtle, has anyone been coming in here fairly recently?”

“Well, there’s that little group that was brewing a Polyjuice Potion in here, with the one girl that got fur all over her face-”

“You mean  _ Hermione _ ? Hermione Granger? Why would she need- oh.” It made sense, she supposed. Draco had mentioned odd behavior in Crabbe and Goyle over the holidays, and she would be a suspect.

“Yes, that’s the one. Oh, and there’s that first year that comes here and talks to herself- a seventh year stressing about exams- a fourth year that doesn’t have any friends-”

Merlin, how many people were in here crying? 

“Myrtle, was there anyone here around Halloween?”

“Oh, yes, I think the first year- a girl, definitely, she was crying about something, I took a look and she had blood all over her hands.”

“Do you know who she was?”

“No. I only got a glimpse. I think she was a redhead.”

Well, there weren’t exactly many redheads in the school. And she knew there was a first year with red hair-  _ Weaslette _ . 

“Thank you, Myrtle. Hey- just for the record, d’you want to know what it was that killed you?”

Myrtle perked up. “You know?”

“Yes.” Myrtle nodded eagerly. “It was a basilisk- a giant snake that can kill people when it looks at them. There’ve been more attacks this year, people are getting petrified because they see it in a reflection.”

Myrtle considered her for a moment. “Thank you, Bellatrix.” Then she dove back through the air, twisted around, and splashed into a toilet, getting water all over her.

“Thanks, Myrtle,” she grumbled.

Now she had a new problem- how to communicate with Weaslette? She would never be able to get to her between classes, or during meals, or after school. She pondered this question for a week, in which she got caught up suddenly in studying for exams.

Finally, it came to her. One day at breakfast, she nudged Draco. “Bet you can’t hit Potter with this parchment.”

Draco, obviously, grabbed the bait. “Easy.” He tore off a piece and crumpled it up, chucking it at the back of Potter’s head before ducking under the table. Potter turned around, confused, and caught a glimpse of Bellatrix, who immediately tried to look as innocent as possible. He rolled his eyes and turned back.

“Hey, bet I can get that 6th year,” Pansy sneered, taking another bit of parchment and tossed it at the Quidditch captain. It landed in his toast, and he whirled around, searching the Slytherin table.

People around them were starting to snicker, and got their own parchment out.

“Try to get the prefect. The Weasley,” Draco told Nott, who managed to clip the boy’s ear.

Greengrass grinned. “Bellatrix, you do one.”

She grabbed a piece of parchment out of her bag, one that she had carefully folded and prepared. “How about Weaslette? That red hair makes a good target.” And, surprising herself with her good aim, got it right next to her plate. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ginny Weasley picked up the parchment that had sailed over from the Slytherin table and landed near her plate. On the outside, it said, “Weaslette.” She swallowed nervously and unfolded it. Inside was a note reading: “We need to talk. Open up Gryffindor Common Room at 1 am, tonight. Or else. -BB”. She searched the Slytherin table, and, sure enough, Bellatrix Black was staring at her.

Ginny gulped.  _ Oh, boy. _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was lounging in the common room when McGonagall’s voice sounded. “All students return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the staffroom. Immediately, please.”

Well, that couldn’t be good- Bellatrix did not have a good feeling about it. In all of the chaos of students rushing into the common room, she slipped out and into the corridor.

This time, she barely had to sneak- all of the teachers were heading to the staffroom, so she met no patrollers. When she got there, she hid as more teachers came filtering into the room, until McGonagall went in. She pressed her ear to the door.

“It has happened. A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the chamber itself.”

There were gasps, and Snape’s voice said, “How can you be sure?”

“The heir of Slytherin left another message. Right underneath the first one.  _ Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever. _ ”  _ Her _ skeleton. Bellatrix had a feeling she wouldn’t be meeting up with Weaslette tonight.

“Who is it? Which student?”

“Ginny Weasley.”

Damnit, why did Bellatrix always have to be right? 

She heard footsteps from down the corridor, and pressed herself back into her hiding spot. She peeked out to see Lockhart rush into the room. “So sorry- dozed off- what have I missed?”

She listened in a kind of morbid fascination as the four Heads of House all worked together (a rare occurrence, mostly Snape’s fault) to crack down on Lockhart. He stuttered and tried to deny their accusations, and Bellatrix tried very hard not to laugh.

Lockhart rushed out to “get ready” (more like flee the castle), and the rest of the teachers soon followed. Bellatrix was about to move from her spot when- lo and behold- the Dumb Duo themselves came out of the room. Bellatrix could already tell what was going to happen- they were going to try to get into the chamber. She had a horrible feeling that they had managed to get in to visit Granger, had found the page, and had managed to come to the same conclusion as her.

They headed back to their common room, and Bellatrix did the same. The last thing she needed was Snape getting there and finding her missing. She managed to sneak around him and get ahead, slipping into the room only a minute before he did. Parkinson gave her a look that clearly said, “What’s going on?”, but she ignored it.

Snape came striding in, gave them his speech about the school and Weaslette, before going back out to his office. Everyone was in a silent sort of shock for a few minutes, before the murmuring started. Bellatrix leapt out of her seat after listening to Draco’s snide remarks about the Weasley family and snuck out to Snape’s office.

“Professor?”

Snape was in the middle of packing his bags. “What is it, Ms. Black?”

“Professor, I- I know where the entrance is.”

He froze, his eyes bugging out of his face. “And I know what the monster is, and I know who did it, and I need to speak to Professor McGonagall.” It was almost like that muggle game Hermione had told her about- Ginny Weasley, in the bathroom, with a basilisk.

He snapped out of his trance, and nodded. “Very well. I will escort you to her office.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

They made the long walk from the dungeons to the Transfiguration wing, and Snape knocked on McGonagall’s office. “Come in.”

She took one glance at them, and sighed deeply. “What is it, Ms. Black?”

Bellatrix suddenly found herself unable to speak, so Snape stepped up. “Bellatrix came to me claiming to have information about the Chamber of Secrets. Nearly all of the information, actually.”

This snapped Bellatrix out of it, and she took a deep breath. “Myrtle’s bathroom. There’s a sink in there, it’s got a snake carving on it- I think you need to be a Parselmouth to open it. 50 years ago, a student died in that bathroom, Moaning Myrtle, and no one ever asked her how she died- she pointed out the sink to me, and said she’d heard someone, a boy, speaking a funny language. She said she saw a big pair of eyes.” Both Professors were looking at her with wide eyes. “And Hermione figured out the other part, right before she got petrified. She was in the library, she ripped a page out of a book, when I visited her it was in her hand. It was a passage on basilisks.” At this, McGonagall sunk into the chair and Snape leaned on the desk.

“Ms. Black, how would a basilisk make its way around the school?”

“Pipes. It’s using the plumbing. Hermione figured that out, too. And then I asked Draco if he knew anything, because he kept saying he did because his father had told him, and he told me the girl had died in a bathroom, and I thought, Moaning Myrtle. So I went to ask her, and that confirmed it.”

McGonagall recomposed herself. “Thank you, Ms. Black, for that information.”

“Er- there’s one more thing, Professor.”

“Yes?”

“Well- I think Potter and Weasley know, too. They must’ve visited Hermione at some point, and found the page, and figured it out. I saw them come out of the staffroom after you-” Snape let out a soft groan at this- “and they looked like they knew something. I know they went back to the common room, but they’re probably going to go find Lockhart and give him information-”

McGonagall cursed. “That idiot won’t try to get into the chamber.”

“And then the two of them will likely try to do it themselves,” Snape added. They all looked at each other for a moment, before McGonagall leaped into action.

“Ms. Black, go check Professor Lockhart’s office. Severus, go check the Gryffindor common room. The password is Pig Snout. I will call the teachers back to the staffroom- meet us there when you are done.”

Bellatrix rushed out the door, flat out sprinting to Lockhart’s office. As much as she disliked the Dumb Duo, she knew Hermione would likely never forgive her if she let anything happen to them. This made her run faster.

“Professor Lockhart? Professor Lockhart!” She searched the office, which looked like someone had been in the midst of packing before leaving in a hurry, before determining that it was empty. After aiming a swift kick at the desk, she ran to the staff room (albeit a bit slower).

Nearly all of the Professors were there, and they all looked at her oddly when she burst in. “He’s not there. Looked like he was trying to pack.”

Snape came running in next (Snape running was quite the odd sight). “Potter and Weasley aren’t in the common room. Some students say they saw them leaving half an hour ago.”

Flitwick looked at the three of them. “What’s happened?”

Snape collapsed into a chair. “Potter and Weasley have discovered where the entrance to the Chamber is, as well as what the monster is. Ms. Black has figured it out as well, and came to inform me. Normally this would not be concerning, as it can only be opened if one knows Parseltongue. Unfortunately, Potter is the only student that does, in fact, speak the language, so they are probably already in the chamber.”

The teachers all looked like they were in shock. Bellatrix spoke up. “Er- Professor Snape?”

“Yes, Bellatrix?”

“Well- it’s just, can’t you learn Parseltongue? I mean, there must be some sort of guide….”

Madam Pince shot up. “I think there might be a book in the Restricted Section.” 

They all immediately ran there- Bellatrix got there first, as, despite her short legs, she was much younger than everyone there. She leapt over the chain separating off the Restricted Section, and started searching shelves frantically. M...N...O...P.  _ Parseltongue _ , she thought,  _ it has to be here _ …. “Aha!” She grabbed the book and rushed out to where the teachers were just arriving. “Second floor bathroom!”

She distantly thought that this was a good idea for some sort of daily workout- wizards were terribly unfit, and running around a castle might do them good. She burst through the door and rushed to the sink.

“Oh, Bellatrix! You just missed them, they went into the chamber 15 minutes ago-”

“ _ Shit! _ ” She flipped through the book.  _ What the hell do I say? _ She found the word “open.”

Snape came running in, and peered over her shoulder, then going to locate the snake. “ _ Sha-sca-”  _

“Ms. Black, that is not how you speak Parseltongue.”

“Well, how would I know?!”

“Let me see that.”

Snape uttered a horrible strangling sound, to no avail. “Maybe it’s a different word?”

They were distracted by McGonagall coming in, carrying Flitwick, followed by Sprout.

“Hey, Myrtle! Did you hear what they said to open this?”

Myrtle frowned, clearly not used to having this many people in her bathroom. “I believe he said ‘open up.’”

“Okay, try that.”

Snape found the translation for ‘open up’, and tried it. Nothing happened. “Are you sure you’re pronouncing it right, Severus?”

He scowled. “Would you like to try, Minerva?”

She snatched the book from him and tried. It was passed around to all of the teachers, and even Bellatrix gave it a go, but nothing.

“Perhaps we’re going about this wrong,” said McGonagall. “Here, let me see that.”

She got up close to the snake, memorized the writing on the book, and stared hard at it. A strangled hissing sound left her throat, and the tap started glowing and spinning. They watched as it spiraled open to reveal a large slide.

Bellatrix started to climb in, but was lifted up by her robes and pulled back. “Oh, no, you don’t, missy,” said Sprout, setting her down by a stall. “There are too many students down there already.”

“Pomona’s right. I will go down with Severus and Filius- Filius, will you conjure a rooster?- thank you.” McGonagall grasped the rooster in her hand, and slid down into the chamber.

Bellatrix was hustled to the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey, who needed to administer the mandrake solution to the petrified people.

Tapping her fingers nervously on her leg, Bellatrix sat and waited.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry Potter fell to the ground, sword still gripped in his hand. He had managed a swipe at the basilisk, taking off a fang and spewing venom all over the sword, before having to scramble back. It hissed and reared its head to strike, and Harry lifted the sword over his head and closed his eyes, and….

“Crow, you blasted thing!”

Huh?

The basilisk turned to the voice, and Harry followed its gaze to find…

Professor McGonagall, brandishing a rooster like a weapon, while Snape poked it with his wand and Flitwick fired spells at the basilisk. 

This was pointless, as the scales were much too hard to penetrate, and Flitwick was tossed into the wall. The basilisk went after him, only to be stopped by McGonagall, who had abandoned the rooster and was sending large chunks of rock at the great snake. Harry, scrambling back, felt his hand close around the severed basilisk fang. 

McGonagall was also batted back, and Tom Riddle seemed to come to his senses because he yelled at the basilisk, “Kill them, you fool!”

Snape, the only one left standing, was frantically shaking the rooster in his hands. The basilisk opened its great mouth, and started to strike-

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

The basilisk screamed in pain, and started to thrash around on the floor. Snape swooped over and grabbed Harry by the robes, lifting him over to where Ginny was lying next to the diary.

“You’ve killed my basilisk!” Riddle growled. “No matter. I will soon consume the life force of this little girl, and I will no longer be just a memory-”

Harry, who had been dropped to the ground and was looking straight at the diary, did the only rational thing. He lifted the fang in his hand and stabbed it into the book.

Now it was Riddle’s turn to scream- he collapsed, and his form disappeared with one last, agonizing shriek.

Next to him, Ginny stirred, and started when she saw him and Snape. “P-Professor!  _ Harry _ ! I s-swear I didn’t mean to, Riddle m-m-made me, I didn’t know what I was d-doing-”

“Save the excuses, girl, you aren’t going to be expelled. Now come on, we have to get back to Weasley.”

Still in shock, Harry let himself be lifted up. Snape went over to McGonagall and Flitwick and levitated them in the air. They walked out of the chamber to where Ron was waiting, looking dumbfounded by the scene, but still managing to pull Ginny into a hug. Everyone looked up to the long, steep pipe.

“How are we going to get up there?”

Fawkes trilled in Harry’s ear, and offered up his tail feather. “Looks like he wants you to grab on. But we’re way too heavy for a bird to carry.”

“Weasley, your lack of knowledge is infuriating. This is a phoenix, they can carry extraordinarily heavy loads. A fact you would know if you paid attention in my class.”

Ron looked like he was not quite sure how to react to that. 

“We will form a chain. Potter, grab the bird and hold the Weasley girl’s hand. Gilderoy-”

“He means you,” Ron told Lockhart, who was staring at them all with amazement.

“-hold her hand. Weasley, take his, and I will hold onto you with these two.”

It took a bit of maneuvering, but eventually they did it. Harry was a bit worried Fawkes wouldn’t be able to do it, but he managed, and soon, they were bursting out into the bathroom.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ms. Granger? Can you hear me?”

Hermione heard the voice as if coming through a long tunnel. “Ms. Granger, can you hear me?”

She groaned softly and forced her eyes open to find Madam Pomfrey leaning over her. “Y-yeah,” she said, feeling as if her voice had not been used for months. “What-” 

And then it came back to her- finding out about the basilisk, warning Penelope, and getting petrified. “Madam Pomfrey, it’s a basilisk-”

“We know. Ms. Black over here was able to figure it out.”

Hermione perked up, her eyes finding the figure standing hesitantly on the other side of the bed. “Bella?”

Bellatrix smiled weakly. “Hey.”

Madam Pomfrey smiled knowingly. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Hermione sat up in bed, swinging her legs over the side. “What’s happened?”

“I- er, found the paper in your hand. And I figured that Myrtle had been the one to get killed by the monster last time, because I asked Draco and he said she’d died in a bathroom. And so I asked Myrtle about it and she said she’d seen a red haired girl, first year. I know Weaslette-”

“Wait,  _ Ginny? _ ” Bellatrix nodded.

“Before I could talk to her she was taken into the chamber. I went to tell the professors what I knew, but by the time I could talk to them Potter and Weasley had already gone with Lockhart into the chamber-”

“They did  _ what _ ?!”

“Because they’d also found the page, so we went to the entrance and found a book on Parseltongue and eventually McGonagall managed to open it up, but they wouldn’t let me go down and help so she and Snape and Flitwick all went. And- then I came here, and they woke you up.”

“You know, for as much as you say you don’t like Harry and Ron, you do seem to save their lives an awful lot.”

Bellatrix shrugged awkwardly. “Well, you know- they seem to get in the way of everything that goes on in this school, right? Someone’s got to try to make sure they don’t die, and everyone else is incompetent.”

Hermione smiled. This was the Bellatrix she knew.

“And,” she said, “I’m- I’m sorry. About everything, you were right, and I was  _ so stupid _ -”

Bellatrix stiffened in surprise as Hermione threw her arms around her. “I’m sorry, too, Bella.”

She felt her arms wrap around her after a few seconds. “Friends?”

Hermione smiled at her and nodded. “Friends.”

They were interrupted by the arrival of Madam Pomfrey, ordering Hermione to  _ sit down _ and Bellatrix to step out of the room. Bellatrix sent her a grin before exiting the room, and Pomfrey checked her over.

“Hermione!”

“ _ Ron! _ ”

Madam Pomfrey muttered something about disrespectful students before letting Ron in to see her. “How are you?”

“Great. I heard you went into the chamber!”

“Yeah! We figured it all out, with your help, of course. We went to tell Lockhart what we knew because he was going to try to get into the chamber, or at least he said he was, because Ginny had been taken into the chamber, but then Lockhart turned out to be a fraud who’s been stealing other people’s accomplishments and he was going to leave, but then we brought him down to the chamber with us, but then he tried to obliviate us but he used my wand so it backfired, but it made this huge avalanche and Harry got trapped on the other side, so I started trying to clear rocks while he went to help Ginny. But then McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick came down and blasted open the rocks, and for some reason they had a rooster, and they went to go help Harry. And they all came back and Harry got a  _ sword _ , and now Harry’s in Dumbledore’s office and Lockhart’s here somewhere with his memory wiped.”

Hermione nodded along, trying to reconcile Ron’s story with Bella’s. From what she could tell, they had not been told about her involvement (again). Then, of course, Ron spotted her. “What’re you doing here?” 

Bellatrix looked panicked for a moment before stuttering out, “I, er, I- fell. Down some stairs. Broke a rib.” Hermione heard Madam Pomfrey let out a rather hysterical laugh somewhere in the background. 

Ron looked suspicious, but didn’t press it. “Hey, there’s going to be a feast, Harry’ll probably be there, let’s go!”

Ron pulled her out of the room to go to the feast, much to the dismay of the ever suffering Madam Pomfrey.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix, through much effort, managed to convince McGonagall to  _ not _ tell Potter and Weasley that she had once again saved their lives. Dumbledore very quietly gave Slytherin 50 points, as well as an award for Special Services to the School- albeit one a bit less prestigious than the one the Dumb Duo had gotten. 

She didn’t get a chance to talk to Hermione until after the feast- they met in the library, and she lent her all of her notes from the classes she’d missed. 

Hermione, apparently, had been in the middle of devising methods of communication when they had had their argument- it wasn’t much work to finish it up, and by the end they had two empty books that they could write back and forth in. 

They both promised to write as often as they could throughout the summer before parting- Bellatrix going to her Slytherin friends, and Hermione with a large group of Weasleys. 

Bellatrix had a feeling that this summer would be a great deal more enjoyable than the last one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	9. Part 3: Chapter 1

**Part 3: Chapter 1**

_ Hermione- Hi! I got home a few hours ago, I haven’t got a lot of time because mother wants me to go to her etiquette lessons soon. It’s odd being back home- is it weird for you, too? Hey, what’s a muggle home like? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a muggle aside from your parents, and that was just once (remember Flourish and Blotts?) Do you have house elves? How do you cook without magic? How do you do anything without magic? What kind of plants do you have? Oh, I have to go, mother’s calling me. _

_ -Bella _

**Bella-**

**Yes, it is rather odd to be back at home- I’ve gotten used to living at Hogwarts. Does your mother really make you take etiquette lessons? That sounds awful.**

**I don’t even know what a house elf is, so no, we don’t have them. Are they like garden gnomes? I know the Weasley’s have some of those in their garden. Muggles do everything with electricity- it powers all of their devices like lightbulbs (which is like a candle but you can light it by flicking a switch). Muggles have rather advanced technology- I often think that it’s almost akin to magic, in that a lot of them would be lost without it. We have normal plants, I guess? Lots of grass. Some flowers. Nothing magical, obviously.**

**I’ve been meaning to ask- what electives did you sign up for next year? I’m taking all of them.**

**-Hermione**

_ You don’t know what a house elf is? Strange- no, they’re not like garden gnomes, they have magic, and they’re usually bound to a certain wizarding family. I was practically raised by house elves- it’s not common practice to interact with your children much in pureblood society, so I wasn’t really aware of my parents until I was 3.  _

_ This light bulb thing is fascinating- how did they do that? I suppose that’s a hard question to answer through a book, maybe you could tell me during school?  _

_ I don’t see why you’re taking every single elective- you’re crazy, I think. I’m taking Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures. Divination didn’t seem like a very worthwhile subject, and it would be rather difficult for me because it’s very imprecise. You can’t learn it out of a book. I would have liked to take Muggle studies (though I can’t see why you would want to take it, Hermione, you come from a muggle household), but father would never allow it. _

_ In other news, I’m going to try out for the quidditch team next year! I’m a rather good Chaser, and that position will be open. I fully expect you to cheer for me (as much as you can, of course, surrounded by Gryffindors). _

_ -Bella _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**When are you going to diagon alley? I’m staying at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasley’s, I think, once they get back from Egypt- did you see them in the prophet?**

_ I saw them- and we’ll be going a week before term starts, on the 25th of August. Do you get the prophet? Because Sirius Black just broke out of Azkaban, the wizarding prison. Everyone’s going nuts about it, because no one’s ever escaped before. He was supposed to be the Dark Lord’s right hand man, and he apparently killed a bunch of people. He’s my cousin. Father says he doesn’t think Sirius was actually a death eater, though. When he was a kid he got blasted off the family tree because he ran away- he didn’t like our family’s views. I don’t blame him much. _

**Yes, I do get the prophet- I was wondering about that, I can’t believe he’s your cousin! Also, your family really blasts people off their tree if they don’t agree with them? That seems a bit extreme.**

_ Well, our Aunt Walburga was a nutcase, so it’s not a big surprise. She and Uncle Orion weren’t as bad as Cygnus and Druella (my parents) but they’re still not good. But speaking of my family- I forgot to tell you! My little sister’s going to Hogwarts this year! I hope she’ll be in Slytherin, because another one of the reasons Sirius was disowned was he was in Gryffindor. Her name is Andromeda, but we (my other sister and I) call her Andy.  _

_ I’m going to try and get away from mother and father while we shop, do you want to meet up somewhere? _

**I’ll be at Flourish and Blotts all day- see you then!**

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hermione!”

“Bella!”

Hermione grabbed Bellatrix into a hug, which she quickly returned. “How are you?”

“Fine. You?”

Bellatrix shrugged. “I’m alright. I’ll be better once we get back to Hogwarts.” This was true- Rodolphus had graduated, so she wouldn’t have to worry about him bothering her any more.

They smiled at each other before heading off to explore the shelves. “Did you get your books yet?”

“No, I’ll be doing that now,” Bellatrix said, grabbing some things from the shelves. “Where’s, ‘Monster Book of Monsters’?”

Hermione winced. “Come on, I’ll show you.” Bellatrix let her lead her over to a large cage with- books? Yes, they were books, but they were snapping and snarling at each other, ripping each other apart.

“More third years?” asked the shop assistant, looking miserable and picking up a long pole. 

“Er- just the one.”

Sighing, the man poked into the cage, separating one slightly tattered book from the rest and lifting it out. “Would you like to buy a bit of rope?”

Next to her, Hermione nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

He took a rope and wrapped it around the book, stifling its rabid snarling. “Here you go.”

Bellatrix warily plucked the book from his grasp. “Bloody hell.”

They got the rest of her books, and stashed them away in a bag. “So when do I get to meet this little sister of yours?”

“I’ll introduce you at school. She’s getting her wand right now.”

They walked out of the bookstore (after checking in both directions to make sure no one they knew was present) and headed to the ice cream shop near the Leaky Cauldron. Bellatrix managed to convince Hermione to let her pay, and they sat inside, talking about how their summer work was going and what classes they were excited for. Both had already read their school books, and were laughing about the Dumb Duo neglecting their work until now when Bellatrix suddenly squeaked and ducked under the table.

She could see Hermione doing her best to look nonchalant as Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson strode into the shop. She hoped to Merlin they wouldn’t notice her.

“Look! It’s Granger!”

_ Damnit.  _

“Didn’t anyone tell you, Granger? This is a  _ wizarding _ establishment. Are you lost?” Parkinson sneered.

“I’m as much of a witch as you are, Parkinson. And then some.”

They both sniffed haughtily. “Come on, Pansy. We can find more respectable places to frequent. That  _ don’t _ allow mudbloods to dirty their floors.”

A door opened, and Bellatrix poked Hermione in the leg. “They gone?”

“Yep.”

She poked her head up, glanced around, and got back into her seat. “If they keep refusing service to a store every time they run into you there, they’ll be run out of Diagon Alley.”

Hermione snorted. “I don’t know where they’re planning on finding another ice cream shop. There aren’t any more in Diagon Alley.”

“Well, maybe there’s, like, a super secret, exclusive, underground pureblood organization that sells bratty children ice cream in Knockturn Alley?”

“Just to make sure their children aren’t mixing with the wrong crowd.”

“Because who wouldn’t want their kids hanging around Borgin and Burkes?”

“What ever are you talking about, Bella? Don’t you know it’s the number one place to go among kids these days?”

“Hey, speaking of number one place to go, you got your Hogsmeade slip signed, right?”

“Yep. I’ve read all about it, I’m pretty excited to go.”

“I’ve never even gone. Father signed the permission slip for me, though- he wanted me to, ‘ _ see what society could be like if wizards stopped cowering in fear of muggles and assumed their rightful roles of rulers of the world. _ ’ He can be a bit unreasonable like that.”

They went on talking until it was time for Bellatrix to leave- she had to meet her family at the Leaky Cauldron, where they would be flooing back to Black Manor.   
  


It was a very long week for Bellatrix to wait to go to Hogwarts- Cissy was especially clingy, because they would be leaving her alone when they went to school, and no matter how many assurances Bellatrix gave her that she would get to see Lucius all the time, she wouldn’t stop  _ crying _ , and  _ complaining _ , something Bellatrix took great pains to hide from father because he didn’t like it when they cried. When it was finally September 1st, Bellatrix could not have been happier, especially because mother and father apparently had better things to do than escort them to the platform, so she got to bring Andy herself.

“You’ll write, won’t you?” Cissy sniffed, arms wrapped around her (Cissy, to Bellatrix’s chagrin, was nearly as tall as she was).

“Of course I will. Now come on, we’ve got to get to the platform. I’ll see you over break.”

She watched Andy go ahead through the fireplace, before scooping up a bit of floo powder and disappearing in a flash of green flame. She grabbed Andy’s arm once she was through and led her onto the train.

They wandered through, looking for a compartment. “Look, Bella, it’s another first year! Can we go sit with them? There aren’t many seats left….”

Bellatrix, who had been searching in vain for Hermione (and trying not to hope that Potter and Weasley would miss the train again) sighed in resignation and nodded. 

She realized too late that the boy Andy had spotted was sitting with Ernie MacMillan, who she didn’t necessarily have a problem with, but was still quite annoying. He gave her an odd look when she stalked in after her sister, plopped down in the corner, and pulled out a large book.

“Hi, I’m Andromeda. You can call me Andy. You’re a first year too, right?” The boy nodded, too afraid to answer. “What’s your name?”

“T-Ted Tonks.”

Andy frowned. “I don’t recognize that name. Are you a mudblood?”

Ernie made an indignant noise in the back of his throat, and Tonks tilted his head in confusion. “A what?”

“Yes, he’s  _ muggleborn _ , Andy,” Bellatrix said, not looking up from her book (which was a reread, but she pretended to be invested in it all the same). 

It was Andy’s turn to look confused. “But father always calls them mudbloods.”

“Father is often wrong.”

“But  _ you  _ said we always had to agree with him.”

Bellatrix sighed. This was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of  _ Ernie MacMillan _ , of all people. 

“I meant verbally. You’re perfectly free to have any beliefs you want.”

MacMillan blinked at her, clearly startled at the seemingly out of character statements. She scowled at him, stuck up her book in front of her face, and did not speak until the trolley came.

Bellatrix thought she might actually murder everyone in the compartment if they didn’t  _ shut up _ . It was only a bit after the trolley had stopped at their compartment, and Andy hadn’t stopped talking to Tonks  _ the entire time _ . And, even worse, MacMillan kept trying to talk to her, which she found extremely annoying.

All of a sudden, the train lurched to a stop. “What was that?” Andy asked, grabbing Bellatrix’s arm.

Bellatrix put her book down and peered out the window. “I dunno.”

“Maybe we’ve broken down?” Tonks suggested.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, well, muggle things often-”

“SHH!” Bellatrix pressed her face up to the window. “I think someone’s coming aboard.”

Then, the air got horribly, horribly cold, and Andy burrowed into her chest. “Bella, what’s happening?” Tonks and MacMillan both looked terrified as well, but Bellatrix fixed them with a look that clearly said, “if you try to cuddle with me I will break your face.”

Bellatrix started getting a terrible feeling, like she would never ever be happy again, and then her brain was filled with all the things she never liked thinking about, like her father when he was furious with her and crucio’d her too many times to count, or what could happen if Rodolphus got carried away, and what  _ did _ happen whenever she saw him, or Hermione, lying on a bed, not petrified but  _ dead _ , or not being able to protect her sisters when she was at school-

“Bella? Bella, it’s okay, it’s gone now. Bella, come on,  _ Bella…. _ ”

Bellatrix forced her eyes open to find her sister’s concerned face looking at her. “ _ Andy. _ What happened?”

On further inspection, Bellatrix realized she was on the ground, curled up in a corner. Ignoring the white, shocked faces of Tonks and MacMillan, she pulled Andy into a hug, which she eagerly reciprocated.

The door burst open, and Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley came running in. “Ernie! Are you-” They stopped short at the sight of Bellatrix on the floor, clutching her sister. “Er-”

MacMillan cleared his throat loudly. “Hannah, Justin! I’m fine, just fine, are you two okay? D’you know what happened?”

“It was a dementor,” Justin replied, still looking uneasily at Bellatrix, who didn’t have the energy to get up just yet. “They had them search the train for Sirius Black.”

“Well, that’s just outrageous! What, do they think we’ve got him hiding in our trunks? Shame on them, letting a dementor onto a train with students on it!”

“I heard they’ll be stationed around the school,” Abbott said. “Apparently Dumbledore isn’t terribly happy.”

“Why?” Tonks asked.

The three Hufflepuffs looked at each other, but it was Andy who answered. “Someone broke out of prison over the summer. He’s really dangerous, and everyone wants to find him and put him back, and since the dementors guard the prison the Ministry apparently set them the task of finding him.”

“Which, as I said before, is absolutely outrageous. It’s a pity Dumbledore couldn’t knock some sense into Fudge.”

“Well, Fudge hasn’t been having the best record, is he? First Hagrid, now this- it’ll be a wonder if he’s put back in his position next election.”

“He’s trying his best with this, I’m sure. It hasn’t been easy trying to find Black.”

Tonks frowned. “But aren’t they Blacks?”

The three looked at each other again, clearly reluctant to even address the fact that Bellatrix and Andromeda were in the room.

Bellatrix, never one to stay quiet, answered. “He’s our cousin. Family disgrace, too- don’t worry, neither of us will go off on a mass murdering spree.”

“Murdering?!”

“Oh, yes, Sirius has murdered several people.”

“Way to break it to him softly, Black.”

“Whatever. Look, I’m going to go talk to the conductor. Andy, stay here.” Eager to get out of the compartment, she pushed herself to her feet, and (staggering a little) went to the front of the train. She had broken out in a cold sweat, and was still shivering a bit. She didn’t actually go to the conductor- instead, she walked around the train a bit, taking deep breaths to calm herself. She was just heading back to her compartment when she ran into a shabby looking man.

“Who are you?”

The man stared down at her. “Professor Lupin. What are you doing out of your compartment?”

“I went to talk to the conductor. He was very uninformative. Why are you holding chocolate?”

“It helps when someone has been recently exposed to a dementor.”

“Oh.” That sounded like something she could use. “Could I have some?”

He seemed to notice her disheveled state, because he broke off a piece and handed it to her. She took a bite- it caused a warm feeling to creep back through her body, and she relaxed a bit. “Thanks.” Without another word, Bellatrix walked back to her compartment.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was very excited. Professor McGonagall was trusting  _ her _ with a time turner! Her professor was giving her power over time!

The next day was the first time she had to use it- Divination, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies were all at the same time. Divination, she thought, was a load of rubbish. Arithmancy was a much more fascinating subject, not to mention more practical and methodical. She was a bit offended in Muggle Studies, honestly, because wizards really didn’t know anything about muggles. Their curriculum was nearly 60 years out of date!

In the afternoon, they all went down to Hagrid’s hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class. Harry and Ron were disappointed that it would be with the Slytherins, but if she was lucky enough, she could get herself paired with Bellatrix, who was currently coming down with Parkinson. She hadn’t been able to talk to Bella yet, but she had heard from Ernie MacMillan during Arithmancy that she had had a similar fit to Harry on the train, except she hadn’t quite passed out. She also had yet to be introduced to her sister, who had apparently sat on the stool with the hat on her head for a little less than 2 minutes before it sorted her into Slytherin.

Hagrid had a bit of a rough start to the class, as Draco Malfoy sneered about his choice of book. Hermione couldn’t help but think that perhaps they should have been given direction about the book- it had been the one textbook she’d been unable to read over break. The Slytherins were all laughing at Draco and Pansy’s teasing of Harry, except for Bella, who was tickling and cooing at her book.

But that was all wiped out of mind when he presented them with the first lesson: large beasts that looked like a cross between a horse and an eagle, with wicked sharp talons and beaks.

_ Oh, Hagrid _ ….

Everyone instinctively backed up (Parkinson had to pull Bella back from where she was going  _ towards _ them, the crazy girl), and Hagrid roared, “Hippogriffs! Beau’iful, aren’ they?”

He went on about how it was very important to not insult a Hippogriff, directed them on how to approach them, and asked if anyone would like to come try.

And, of course, Harry had to volunteer- Buckbeak the Hippogriff bowed, and Harry was allowed to go on a ride around the paddock. After this, everyone else was a bit more confident, especially because it was Harry that did it, even with the omen of death hanging over his head (which was, of course, a load of rubbish). Everything was going well when she heard Malfoy say, “You great ugly brute,” and Buckbeak reared up and lashed out with his talons, and Hagrid grabbed him and pulled him back from where he was still trying to get back at Malfoy.

“I’m dying! I’m dying, look at me! It’s killed me!”

“Yer not dyin’! Someone help me- gotta get him outta here-”

Hermione rushed to open the gate, and Hagrid carried Malfoy out, who was still moaning. “Class dismissed!”

They all followed Hagrid up to the castle, muttering amongst themselves. Pansy Parkinson shrieked, “They should fire him straight away!” 

Dean Thomas opened his mouth to argue, but Bella cut in. “C’mon, Parkinson, we all know it was less a reflection on Hagrid’s teaching skills and more on Draco’s mental abilities. Everyone heard Hagrid say to never insult a Hippogriff, and he went and did it anyway. His bloody fault he’s so dumb. Let’s just go to our next class.”

The Slytherins all moved on, leaving the Gryffindors standing in shock. “Did Black just- defend Hagrid?”

“More like insulted Malfoy,” Ron snorted. “I can’t see her doing anything to help anyone.” Hermione found this deeply ironic, seeing as Bellatrix had helped Ron and Harry several times over the past two years.

“Well, Ronald, you never know. Have you ever even talked to her?”

“Yeah! Last year, when she joined in with Malfoy in talking about my family!” Oh, right. Hermione had forgotten about that particular period of time (mostly because it was right before she’d been petrified, which was a much bigger experience) where Bellatrix had been rather mad at her, and had taken to insulting all of her friends.

Unfortunately, this led to everyone in Gryffindor house disliking her nearly as much as Malfoy and his cronies.

They spent the entire way to their next class complaining about Malfoy, Parkinson, and Bella. Hermione had no qualms about Malfoy and Parkinson- they were, after all, some of her least favorite people.

That night, she headed to the library, where Bellatrix was sitting with another girl. “Hey,” she said as Hermione slid into her seat.

“Who’s this?”

“I’m Andy!”

“That’s Andy.”

Hermione looked at them, amused. ‘Andy’ was nearly an exact copy of her sister- the only thing that set them apart was the slightly lighter curls. “Hello, Andy. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Your name’s Hermione, right?”

“Mmhmm.”

“That’s a cool name. Does my sister annoy you a lot?”

Bellatrix turned a bright red color and elbowed her sister sharpy. Hermione smiled. “Oh, definitely.” Bella stuck her tongue out.

Hermione took out her homework and got started on it. She didn’t get far when Bellatrix said, “Dear Merlin, Hermione, how can you have that much homework on the first day?”

“It’s not that much. Trelawney didn’t even give us anything.”

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. “Can I see your schedule?” She passed it over. “Hermione! This can’t be right! You’re taking like three classes at once!”

“Don’t be silly, Bella. How would I be in three classes at once?”

“But how-”

“I’ve got it all worked out with McGonagall. Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Thanks, Bella.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She couldn’t believe it. An entire month later, and Draco was  _ still _ putting up a fuss about his arm! She couldn’t see it lasting much longer- yes, all the Slytherins wanted to see Hagrid fired, but they were also getting annoyed with him, especially because she kept reminding them that Madam Pomfrey had mended several of her bones in seconds before.

She had tried out for the Quidditch team and SHE MADE IT ON!!!! This, however, meant lots of practicing, what with the match coming up rather soon. This also meant less time with Granger- they’d had to change the days they met because practices were on Thursdays and Saturdays.

It was a source of great contention between them about what, exactly, made Snape hate Professor Lupin so much. They agreed that Lupin was the superior professor, and Hermione insisted that this was why Snape loathed him- he was the first competent defense professor they’d ever had. Bellatrix, however, also believed that this was the reason, but in another sense- she firmly believed that Snape was terrified that Lupin would discover his secret and expose him to the entire school as a vampire.

She still couldn’t see why Hermione thought this was silly.

The school was getting increasingly uneasy, as Sirius Black had broken in just the last week. Bellatrix and Hermione had entertained themselves coming up with wild theories for a while. Meanwhile, the entire school was regarding her with suspicion, just because he was her cousin! She’d never even met the man! He was disowned from her family, besides, so really they were just being stupid. (Not to mention that no one suspected Andy, who had made quick friends with the Hufflepuffs- surprisingly the source of most rumors in the school).

And then Lupin missed a class, and Hermione said that Snape had given him a potion, and then gasped and ran off to find a calendar. Bellatrix was left sitting in confusion until she came hurrying back, clearly excited about something.

“ _ He’s a werewolf! _ ” Hermione hissed. “Look, it was just the full moon, that must have been what the potion was for!”

“Blimey. No wonder Snape set us all essays on werewolves.”

“It’s weird, though, that Snape hates him so much, but he still made the potion correctly.”

“Dumbledore would’ve been pissed if he botched it up. Hey! Maybe Snape hates him so much because now there’s like another magical creature encroaching on his territory!”

“ _ Bella!” _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re doing  _ what _ ?!”

Marcus Flint scowled at her. The only part she did not like about the quidditch team was the people on it- Flint in particular, as he had been friends with Rodolphus when he was at school.

“We’re drawing from the match. Our seeker is injured.”   
  


“Oh, that’s some bull _ shit, _ that is, it was 2 months ago! There isn’t even a cut anymore!”

Draco, who was sprawled out on a bench, whined, “There was muscle damage!”

“Muscle damage, my arse, you haven’t been injured since the day you got the cut, you bloody idiot! You’ve been drawing it out to get Hagrid fired, and now you’re all using that to your advantage because you’re scared of a thunderstorm!”

“We’re not  _ scared _ ,” sneered Warrington, one of the other chasers. “We’re just strategically withdrawing.”

“C’mon! What’s a little rain? The  _ Hufflepuffs _ are willing to play, and they’re Hufflepuffs! Have some dignity, people!”

A couple people looked a little sheepish, but Flint said, “It’s already been done, Black. And everyone knows Hufflepuffs are idiots, that’s the only reason they’re playing in these conditions. The Ravenclaws wouldn’t do it either.”

“Yeah, cause they don’t want to get their bloody glasses wet!”

“End of discussion,” Flint growled. She stomped her foot in frustration (a bit immature, but  _ whatever _ ) and stalked off to find Hermione.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I mean, can you  _ believe _ it?”

“Yes,” Hermione said tartly, scribbling an ending to her Ancient Runes essay. “No offense, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from them.”

“None taken. I mean, it’s just,  _ ugh _ . What’s a little rain?” Hermione looked pointedly out of the window, where the rain was thrashing the grounds with incredible force. “Well, more than a little, but still! If the Hufflepuff team can play, so can we!”

“You know, Bella, they’ve put together a good team this year.”

“Shove off, Andy.”

Andy, much like her sister, had taken to frequenting the library in order to talk to her friends from other houses. She was currently sitting at the table next to them with Ted Tonks, Ernie MacMillan, Colin Creevey, and a couple more assorted people. Bellatrix had warned them off of mentioning her presence there with the threat of death, and so far, so good. (Bellatrix did not get along particularly well with most of these people- but, as they did not like her, this was deemed okay). Andy had also taken to asking Hermione for help on potions homework, which she was even more dismal at than her sister (she had decided Hermione was the person to ask when she needed homework help- something that irked Bellatrix to no end).

“You know, Bellatrix, Cedric’s good at managing a team. And he’s an excellent seeker,” said Ernie pompously. “They might have a chance this year.”

“That is if  _ pretty boy Diggory _ manages to keep his mind focused on more than one thing at once and doesn’t fail his schoolwork.”

“You’re not a terribly nice person,” Ted pointed out. Hermione started to laugh and turned it into a cough at Bellatrix’s look.

“It’s one of my best qualities, you know.”

Shaking her head, Hermione pulled out her Arithmancy homework and started it.

“Hermione, I still don’t see how you’re managing that many classes. How do you ever get all of this done?” Bellatrix asked.  _ Oh, you know, by turning back time _ , Hermione thought as she shrugged. Sometimes it was tempting to tell Bellatrix about her… privileges, but McGonagall had told her to not tell anyone, and she wasn’t going to break that trust. However, she never said anything against dropping hints- and Bellatrix was smart enough that she would probably figure it out eventually.

It was, Hermione thought with a small snigger, only a matter of time.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The match had been an utter disaster, and for the first time, Bellatrix was a bit thankful that the team had pulled out. She thought it very likely that she would have fallen off her broom like Potter had- as it was, she had had to lean on Parkinson the whole way back, and was still shivering a bit by the end of the week. 

Merlin, she  _ hated _ dementors. She thought she would probably go mad in Azkaban.

The next Hogsmeade weekend was coming up, although she didn’t really think she was going to go. After all, she had no one to go with, really, and she had studying to do.

Hermione, however, had gone, and came back that night with disturbing news. After relaying the whole overheard conversation, Bellatrix could only gape at her. “Wha- are you going to tell Potter?”

Hermione looked sheepish. “Well….”

“Don’t tell me he was there!” Hermione didn’t answer. “How’d he manage that?”

“Well- oh, don’t tell anyone! He has a map that shows him everything about the castle- all the secret entrances, where everyone is. And he’s got an invisibility cloak as well.”

Bellatrix’s eyes widened. “You think you could get that to me sometime?”

“ _ Bella- _ ”

“I won’t use it for bad things, promise! What if you said you wanted to go down to the library, and then we could meet up somewhere!” To be fair, Bellatrix had only ever talked to Hermione twice outside of the library.

Hermione scowled at her. “We’ll see. But for now- did you know anything about this?”

“Oh, please, like my father actually tells me things. I expect Draco knew, because his father tells him  _ everything _ . But, well, father said he didn’t believe Sirius was actually a Death Eater, and he knew about this whole thing.”

“But he  _ must’ve _ been. Why else would he kill Pettigrew?”

“I dunno. Maybe he was, like, a really top level spy, and no one but the Dark Lord knew about him.”

“Possibly. Or your father was trying to avoid suspicion.”

Bellatrix shrugged- she didn’t quite feel like picking apart the reasons behind her father’s actions (something that always went in a downward spiral straight to a panic attack), and so she pulled her book closer to her. Unbeknownst to Hermione, she was researching possible methods of time travel, as this was the only explanation she could think of for the vast amount of work she was getting done.

The next day, Bellatrix was on the train heading back home. Andy was sad to be leaving her friends for the week- Bellatrix was far more concerned about any potential betrothals, like the one she had gotten her first winter break.

Thankfully, this did not happen, as father was satisfied enough with the match he had made for her- something, she thought, that did not win him any favor from her, as she absolutely despised Rodolphus, whom she had been forced into spending time with at periodic intervals over break.

As usual, Bellatrix couldn’t wait to get back from break- and Andy was just as excited, and managed to find her friends on the train (Bellatrix, valuing her sanity, sat with Parkinson). She couldn’t help but smile as they pulled out of the platform, leaving London behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	10. Part 3: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I realized a couple of hours after I posted the last chapter that it was not, in fact, Wednesday. My day made a lot more sense after that. 
> 
> But it worked out in the end, because I was planning on changing my schedule around anyway, so new chapters will be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
> 
> And I've forgotten to do this for the last few chapters, but I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Part 3: Chapter 2**

“Eureka!” 

“What is it you’ve figured out this time, Bella?”

Hermione sighed as she looked up from her homework to where Bellatrix was grinning like an idiot. One time in their first year, Hermione had gotten over excited about something she’d solved, and had cried out “Eureka!” Since then, Bellatrix had made it her signature phrase.

“Can I see the time turner?”

Hermione spilled ink all over her parchment. Scowling, and clearing it off, she attempted to compose herself before answering. “Time turner, Bella?”

Her smile fell a bit. “Isn’t that what you’re using? To get to your classes?”

Hermione considered her for a moment, before shrugging. “Caught me.”

“Ha! So how many hours are you adding to your day?”

“On average? 6. Some for classes, some for finishing up the homework. I do some of it here with you and some of it in the common room. More here now, after- you know.”

Recently, Hermione had taken to spending much more time with Bellatrix and Hagrid, as Harry and Ron were not speaking to her (to her credit, Bellatrix did try very hard to not look too pleased when she told her this.)

“ _ 6 hours _ ? Merlin, Hermione, you must be exhausted!”

Truthfully, she  _ was _ exhausted. Between homework and helping Hagrid with his appeal, she barely had any time to sleep.

But Bellatrix would likely force feed her a Sleeping Draught if she knew that, so she said, “It’s fine, really.”

Unfortunately, this was not enough to dissuade Bellatrix. “Oh, come on. There must be something I can do- I’ve got Quidditch practice, but now that I know, you can bring me back in time with you! Hey, do you ever have three of you running around, or is it just two at a time?”

“Sometimes three. My past self is in the common room right now, actually. And I’m planning on going down to Hagrid’s half an hour ago, so it’s likely that I’m there as well.”

Bellatrix looked utterly bewildered. “Huh?”

“Forget about it. I don’t really think you can go back with me- McGonagall made it clear that I shouldn’t share this with anyone else, though I really think she meant Harry and Ron, because they would never figure it out on their own.”

“Well, I can still do something! All of my homework’s done, I’ve got nothing to do, so what’s something that  _ you _ don’t necessarily have to do?”

Hermione frowned. It would be helpful to have Bellatrix help her (something, she thought, Harry and Ron likely wouldn’t do), and she didn’t  _ really _ need to research the appeal herself.

“Actually- remember Buckbeak? Well, Hagrid’s got to go to a hearing, because all the committee members are terrified of Abraxas Malfoy, and I’m trying to find precedents to this situation.”

“You aren’t going to find any favorable ones, but I can certainly look. I’ll even write out something Hagrid can say, to put together a cohesive argument. And we could put together some sort of petition and have a bunch of students sign it.”

Hermione looked at her in shock. “You would really do that?”

“Course. You need to stop running yourself ragged- here, give me those books, I’ll look through them and find anything useful.”

Thinking that she had possibly never appreciated Bellatrix more (which said a lot, considering the fact that she saved her friends’ life on a regular basis now), Hermione went on with her homework, which seemed much less weighty now that she had a friend to help.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“They think it’s all my fault! How, how could that possibly have been my fault? It’s not my problem that Ronald keeps losing his stupid rat!”

“I’m sure they’ll come round. I could knock some sense into them for you,” Bellatrix offered hopefully. Hermione gave her a disapproving look.

Privately, Bellatrix thought that Hermione looked much better after a few weeks of not having to worry much about Buckbeak’s appeal, and Bellatrix had recently started demanding to do her muggle studies homework (something that legitimately fascinated her, and it wasn’t like she needed to study for that because she knew all about muggles anyway). A petition had been written to save Buckbeak, and although people didn’t know Bellatrix had written it, she couldn’t help but feel prideful when nearly half the school signed it.

Just the other day, Weasley had found blood on his pillow and cat hairs strewn across his bed. She thought he was overreacting, because honestly, it was just a rat. Not to mention she was also eager to defend Crookshanks, as she had taken a liking to the cat.

There was also another project Bellatrix had going on. The previous class, Professor Lupin had begun a unit on vampires. This was rather exciting, because he had already gone over several ways to defeat vampires, and Bellatrix was determined to use this to her fullest advantage.

The next day in potions, she raised her hand. “Professor? I was reading about some ways that culinary works are rather similar to potions. Are there any similarities regarding ingredients? Have you ever used, say, garlic in your potions?” On the other side of the room, Hermione suppressed a groan of frustration.

Snape gave her an odd look. “No. I have never used garlic in my potions, although some may use it for flavoring. I dislike the taste myself.” Bellatrix gave Hermione a triumphant look. The only response she received was a tired eye roll.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix and Hermione did not much feel like going to Hogsmeade that weekend, as Hagrid’s appeal was going on. Bellatrix was pacing back and forth, and Hermione was muttering under her breath and going over all the points in their argument.

“Bella! Look!” There was an owl flying towards them- they had taken refuge in the owlery, as more people than usual were in the library.

“Oh, you read it, I can’t!” Hermione exclaimed, handing the paper over to Bellatrix, who swallowed in nervous anticipation and unfolded the letter gingerly. It was a bit smudged where large droplets of water had dropped- Bellatrix desperately hoped they were tears of joy rather than sorrow.

She glanced it over, then kicked the wall. “Damnit!”

Hermione moaned. “Oh,  _ no _ .” 

“Apparently it was a close decision. Some of them were actually keen to let him go, but then Abraxas had a ‘close word’ with them and they ended up convicting him! Oh, I can’t  _ believe _ this!”

Hermione sniffed, then took the letter from her hands. “Hey, I’m going to go tell Harry and Ron. They- they should kn-know-”

“Yeah, okay.” Bellatrix waited until she’d left before kicking the wall again, this time causing several owls to startle out of their perches. “ _ Shit! _ ”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a small consolation that there was going to be an appeal- while Bellatrix still helped (more secretly, now, as Weasley had begun helping), she didn’t see much hope in it. For now, though, she was walking the grounds, taking a small break from her work.

She heard the punch from several meters away, and turned around in time to see Draco staggering to the ground, Hermione withdrawing her fist. She could hear her shrill voice say, “Don’t you  _ dare _ call Hagrid pathetic, you foul- you evil-”

“Hermione!” Weasley exclaimed from behind her as Draco picked himself off the ground, only to have a wand pointed at his face. After a brief hesitation, Draco said, “Come on,” and he, Crabbe and Goyle stalked away to the dungeons. Bellatrix followed after them, cackling wildly.

Later that week was the Quidditch final- Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Bellatrix had been training harder than ever, determined to do well. She had done well at the last two games- but the Gryffindor chasers were about on the same level as her, and their keeper was much, much better than theirs.

It was the hardest match she had played yet- the Gryffindors were fighting tooth and nail to win, and Wood was able to block about half of her shots. When Gryffindor pulled ahead 50 points, Potter started looking for the Snitch, and Bellatrix started going harder than ever. Wood was taken out of commission (she couldn’t  _ believe _ her teammates would stoop so low, to think they needed to play dirty to win), and the Gryffindor team started getting angrier.

Johnson streaked up the field with the quaffle. The rest of the Slytherins formed a blockade, and she screamed at them, “If you don’t think your Keeper can save the balls, maybe you should find a better one!”, and Potter scattered them with his broom and Johnson scored. 

“And Black is scolding her teammates, and I don’t blame her, but I wonder if she’s been confunded-”

“SHUT UP, JORDAN!”

Bellatrix grabbed the quaffle and soared down the field, scoring goal after goal after- 

_ Bam! _

One of the Weasley twins sent a forceful Bludger in her direction, and it hit right in the ribs. Pain lanced through her body, but she righted herself on her broom and kept on flying.

“Black’s been hit, with that amount of force that’s probably a broken rib, but she keeps flying-”

The Beaters were aiming for her now, having identified her as the competent chaser (for good reason.) She dodged around most of them, but another hit her in the face right as she shot another goal, and blood started flying everywhere as she chased after Spinnet.

She started getting dizzy, and had to hug the Quaffle to her chest (which hurt quite a lot) when she regained possession of it. Potter and Draco were still searching for the Snitch, but she knew Potter couldn’t catch it yet- the score was 70-80 Gryffindor, not enough yet for them to win the cup.

Rolling to avoid a bludger, she aimed at the goal post. The Quaffle slipped on her fingers, but she sent a kick at it and it still went in.

“Well, I have to admit that was quite a good score- And Johnson has the Quaffle again, go, Angelina, go!- She’s scored, it’s 90-80, Warrington’s got the ball now, passes it to Flint, he shoots- Bell grabs it, dodges a Bludger, she’s going- SHE’S SCORED!”

The game continued, and by the time Gryffindor was up by 50 points agao (130-180), Bellatrix was barely able to stay on her broom.

Suddenly, both Seekers pulled into a dive, and Bellatrix poured all of her speed into getting to the goal posts, Quaffle in hand. Potter and Draco were fighting in midair, but still hot in pursuit, so she had a chance to get Slytherin up by one more point to get them the cup-

She didn’t see the Bludger until it was too late. There was a sickening  _ crack _ as it collided with the side of her head, and she slid off of her broom and to the ground.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was happy for Harry. She really was. But Bella had fallen nearly 40 feet after a blow to the head (although, thankfully, Snape had slowed her momentum down considerably, so at least there was no risk of her  _ dying _ ). It took all of her willpower to not rush off to the hospital wing, as she knew that while most of the Slytherin team likely wouldn’t bother visiting her, people like Pansy Parkinson might question her presence.

So, she had no choice but to let herself get carried over to a party in the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry, along with the rest of the team, was basking in his glory, and looked happy enough to produce a hundred patronuses. Everyone was lauding congratulations on the Weasley twins for keeping the Quaffle away from the goal posts, something Hermione did not join in because the result of that was lying in the hospital wing with a concussion.

Sometime after ten, Hermione managed to get to Harry to ask if she could borrow his invisibility cloak to go to the library. He rolled his eyes playfully, but chuckled and rushed up to his dormitory to get it for her.

And yes, she knew that lying to her friends was perhaps not the best thing to do, but to be fair, she’d gotten the idea from Bella. 

She snuck into the hospital wing without much effort, and pulled up a chair next to Bella’s bed. She looked much more… peaceful, when she was sleeping. Hermione realized that Bellatrix didn’t often lower her barriers- she had seen this peaceful, relaxed look only a few times in the library, when it was late and it was just them and Bellatrix let her play with her hair.

And then, of course, Bellatrix woke up and started talking, and the moment was ruined.

“Hermione! What are you doing here?”

“Came to see you! How are you feeling?”

“Like shit. I assume the Gryffindors are partying their arses off?”

Hermione winced. “Yeah. Sorry about that, by the way. Although I think Fred felt sorry for hitting you off your broom.”

“Sure he did,” she scoffed. “Anyway, it wasn’t the act itself that hurt. I passed out pretty quickly. The worst part was waking up in the hospital wing and listening to Parkinson lecture me about  _ safety _ , and  _ stop being so reckless, Bellatrix _ , and  _ next thing you know you’ll be throwing yourself off the astronomy tower _ . I mean, honestly. This fall wasn’t even on purpose!”

“Were there any other falls on purpose?” Hermione demanded.

“Oh.” Bellatrix immediately looked guilty. “Well, er- sort of? I mean- last year, they wouldn’t let me in to see you so I may or may not have thrown myself off a staircase-”

“ _ Bella! _ ”

“But it all worked out, because then I wouldn’t have known about the basilisk!”

“That was still extraordinarily reckless!”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Parkinson.”

Hermione gasped. “How dare you.”

Bellatrix giggled, and yawned. “You’re going to have to go soon, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’ll see you during exams, though, right?”

Bellatrix let out a loud groan. “Yeah. How many are you taking, again?”

“Eleven. I walked out of divination somewhat recently, actually.”

“You did  _ what? _ ” 

“I walked out. The teacher was ridiculous, and I was wasting my time. Harry and Ron said I was going mental, because later I punched Draco in the face.”

“I saw that! That was one of the most brilliant-”

They both froze, then Hermione ducked under the invisibility cloak as Madam Pomfrey came into the room. Bellatrix pretended to be asleep, and after a moment of inspecting the room for anything off, she sighed and went back to bed.

“I suppose you’ll have to go, then?” Bella whispered.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

“See you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione, overall, felt alright about her exams- except, of course, Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she supposed she was bound to do badly on one of them. Bellatrix had turned their Care of Magical Creatures exam into a fiasco by pretending to be a number of magical creatures that she wished had been on the exam, anything from a hippogriff to a dragon. When Malfoy insulted her impressions, she mimed slashing his arm, to the raucous joy of the class, even causing Hagrid to chuckle a bit.

Surprisingly, she had still passed.

The end of exams was a sober affair, for they received notice from Hagrid that the appeal had failed. Hermione rushed to let Bella know, and she had come up with a few choice words for the Minister, the executioner, the committee, the Ministry, the Malfoys, and several other things that had nothing to do with the situation but that Bella took the opportunity to trash talk.

Despite Hagrids wishes, they still went down to visit him before the execution. Hermione found Scabbers, they walked back up to the castle, and Ron chased after his pet and Crookshanks when they got loose. Harry and Hermione watched in horror as Ron was dragged under the tree by a great black dog. Crookshanks pressed a knot in the wood and, anxious to get to Ron, they followed him into the tree.

From the discovery of Sirius Black, to blasting Snape unconscious, to the tale of the Marauders, Hermione stayed silent, aside from the occasional comment- exposing Lupin as a werewolf being one of them. She watched, horrified, as Scabbers turned into Peter Pettigrew, and let herself be led up the passageway and into the night. 

From there, everything went to shit. 

Lupin transformed and fought with Sirius. Pettigrew turned into a rat, escaping into the night and taking with him the evidence that Sirius was innocent. Sirius went after him, running into dementors, and Hermione, struggling to produce a Patronus, collapsed to the ground.

When she awoke, she was in the hospital wing, and Snape was filling Fudge in on the story. Harry got up and roared at them that Sirius was innocent, something that likely did not make a good impression, so Hermione jumped in in a more rational tone. Still, Fudge believed they had been confunded, and Snape remained just as stubborn. Then hope came in the form of Dumbledore and a chance to go back and change it all.

Harry was the one who figured out what to do- save Buckbeak, and use him to save Sirius. A nearly impossible task, but they had to at least try. They snuck down to Hagrid’s, staying near the edge of the grounds, and watched past events as they played out. There was a small moment of panic as Harry started to go get Pettigrew, but Hermione got him to calm down and realize that there was no way to get him.

Still, Hermione’s brain went into overdrive trying to figure out a way, but was unable to think of something with only two people.

The small party went into Hagrid’s hut, and Harry snuck off to get Buckbeak. Hermione watched the hut carefully-

“Hermione!”

“Bellatrix! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was going to free Buckbeak, but it looks like you already got to that.”

It only took Hermione a moment to decide what to do. Bellatrix, she knew, already did far too much for her, but if she would help then maybe there was a way….

“Bella, I need you to do something for me.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was sore. She had been crouching down in this forest for an  _ hour _ waiting for a group of people to come back out of the Whomping Willow.

Just as she was shifting positions, they emerged. If she looked closely enough, she could see Hermione (the later version) peeking out from behind a tree as she watched the scene. She caught a glimpse of the man who was supposed to be her cousin, and tensed up in anticipation when the full moon came out from behind the clouds.

Getting to her feet, she stretched out her legs and crept forward. If what Hermione said was true, then this was the exact spot she needed to be in.

And, sure enough, the man tied up in the middle reached down and grabbed a wand off of the ground, and hexed Hermione’s cat, an act that outraged her. Potter disarmed him, but it was too late- the man was shrinking down into his clothes, and slipped through the cuff that had held him, and dashed off- right towards where she was hiding.

There was a little path that she knew he was going to take- and she was positioned right to the side of it. She was going to need her Quidditch reflexes, and she crouched back down, ready to leap.

The rat was 20 feet… 10 feet… 5…

_ Gotcha! _ Bellatrix leaped out from her hiding place and grabbed the rat around the middle before rolling off to the side. Holding him tight in her grasp as he wriggled, trying to get free, she grabbed a small back bag and shoved him in, pulling the cord tight. “ _ Yes! _ ”

She felt the cold chill that indicated dementors, but that was okay, Hermione had warned her about that, and she didn’t look back as she sprinted up to the castle, wriggling bag held tight against her chest. She didn’t stop until she got to the hospital wing, where she ducked into a side room and waited.

She saw them carrying up Hermione, followed by the Dumb Duo… Snape next, talking to the Minister, and then Dumbledore came and the other two were ushered out.

Any minute now….

There it was. Hermione came sprinting around the corner, hair wild, and wrenched open the door to the room Bellatrix was in. “ _ Thank you! _ ” she whispered as she handed her the bag, and then the door was shut and Hermione disappeared from view.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was  _ fast _ , Harry thought, faster than he thought she’d be. He was a good few meters behind her, and she was just speeding up. He finally caught up to her around the door, where Dumbledore was just closing it behind him.

“Headmaster! We did it! They’re both free!”

Dumbledore congratulated them, and let them in through the door. They rushed to bed, Hermione tucking the time turner under her shirt. Not a moment too late- Professor Snape’s voice could be heard from inside the room, screaming accusations.

Three men burst into the room, Snape howling in outrage at the injustice of it all. Madam Pomfrey ordered him out of the room, and he reluctantly obeyed.

Fudge was saying, “The  _ Daily Prophet _ ’s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff’s escape, and I’ll be a laughingstock! Well- I’d better go and notify the Ministry….”

All of a sudden, Hermione got out of bed, and stood holding a small bag that seemed to be holding a reluctant inhabitant. “Hermione?”

She was smiling, and Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. Hermione really could be  _ scary _ when she wanted to. “Minister, I believe there’s something else you should know before you go.”

“What is it?”

“Sirius Black was innocent. And I can prove it- sit down and listen, will you? If you don’t, you’ll likely be thrown out of office, so I highly suggest that you do.”

“Hermione, what are you doing?”

“Quiet, Harry.”

“Well- that is simply outrageous! If Sirius Black was innocent, who else would have done it? No, no, little girl, you must still be confused….”

“It was Peter Pettigrew. When they were at school, they all learned to be Animagi- unregistered, of course, or you would know about it-”

“Well, there it is! He was a criminal even in school, and he forced poor Pettigrew to do it as well!”

“Actually, I’m led to believe both he and James Potter were deeply involved. Unless you’d like to convict him of criminal activity as well?”

This shut Fudge up. “Sirius was an obvious choice for Secret Keeper- too obvious. So he switched it to Pettigrew. Unfortunately they didn’t know that he was a spy for You-Know-Who-”

“Preposterous! If you don’t have anything concrete to say-”

“I think you will find Ms. Granger’s evidence to be perfectly concrete, Minister,” said Dumbledore, smiling at the bag Hermione was holding. Harry was still very confused- Pettigrew had escaped, and Lupin wasn’t able to testify at the moment.

“Thank you, Professor. As I was saying, when Black found out that the Potters were dead, he ran after Pettigrew. But he was outsmarted- Pettigrew accused him of selling out James and Lily in a crowded street and then blew it up himself. He cut off his own finger and turned into a rat, and ran away to live with a Wizarding family. Ron’s family, to be exact.”

The Minister paused for a moment, and then laughed in her face. “This is a ridiculous theory! I will hear no more of it- good day, Ms. Granger!”

There was silence, then Harry asked, “Hermione, what they bloody hell was that? What did you mean you had evidence?”

She looked at him, and started laughing hysterically. Bent over, eyes streaming, and Dumbledore joined in after a moment. “What’s so funny?”

Gasping for breath, Hermione held up her bag. “Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on Fudge’s face when he realizes he was wrong!”

“Huh?”

“Mr. Potter, I believe Hermione has gotten a small… surprise for you,” Dumbledore chuckled, eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Hermione, what….” Harry’s words died in his mouth. Hermione had reached into the bag and pulled something out.

And in her hand, still wriggling madly, was Peter Pettigrew.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most glorious moments of Hermione’s 14 years was the look on the Head Auror’s face when a rat turned into a presumably dead man right there in his office.

Of course, he had been taken straight down to an interrogation room, and when they came back, Rufus Scrimgeor (the Head Auror) marched right to the Minister’s office to have a little “chat.” Hermione had had to fight hard to keep the triumphant grin off of her face when he came into the office demanding to see Pettigrew.

Originally, the Minister had wanted to keep the whole affair quiet. Of course, this wouldn’t happen- Bellatrix had already sent an anonymous message through  _ private _ channels to a writer in the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter, detailing the whole story. They had planned their visit down to the minute, so just as Fudge was getting out NDA’s, a dark skinned Auror had burst in holding the morning paper with the headline “PETER PETTIGREW ALIVE; SIRIUS BLACK FOUND INNOCENT IN STORY UNCOVERED AT HOGWARTS”. Underneath was a picture they had snapped of an unconscious Pettigrew, along with the entire story. Fudge turned an awful shade of purple and rounded on Dumbledore, who was regarding the whole affair with a kind of vague amusement. “Dumbledore! This is the last straw! You’ve always tried to get rid of me, and I won’t have it, I-”

“Actually, Cornelius,” Dumbledore said, smiling. “I was unaware of this story being published until recently- just this last minute, actually. I believe this was the work of Ms. Granger here. After all, she did say you would regret it if you did not listen to her very true story.”

Fudge did an impressive imitation of a goldfish, before finally closing it and storming out of the office. 

“Well, I think that went well,” Dumbledore said mildly, before offering her a lemon drop.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix shared a good laugh with Hermione when it was all done with. The Dumb Duo was still under the impression that Hermione had managed to set a trap for Pettigrew in the middle of a dark forest while having no idea where he would go, and had managed to get him between saving Sirius and running from a werewolf.

Oh, the amusing things in life.

Hermione had expressed that she felt bad about Bellatrix not getting any credit- Bellatrix waved her off, claiming she didn’t want her father to find out about her helping anyone remotely related to the “Light side” (which was admittedly true). Really, though, it was getting rather funny, as Potter and Weasley were evidently not quite so sharp as to be able to suspect outside help.

Sirius was currently recovering in the hospital wing- he had also sued the Ministry for illegal imprisonment (which his lawyer had managed to squeeze up to a hefty sum), as he had never been given a trial and therefore should not have been held there in the first place.

Bellatrix, being her usual curious self, had gone to see him- he was, after all, her cousin. She had deemed it best to not tell him about her involvement in his freedom, as he would likely tell Potter. Instead, they lightly bantered about their family (and how horrible they all were) and she promised to bring Andy up to talk to him. They got along rather well- Sirius had ended the discussion by patting her on the head and telling her, “follow your heart, kiddo.” Hermione thought it was cute- Bellatrix claimed it made her nauseous (a blatant lie, and she was sure Hermione knew that.)

Sirius was, while happy about his freedom, not happy about the Ministry’s holding abilities. Peter Pettigrew had escaped a mere 5 hours after being captured- someone had forgotten to put wards around the cell. Both she and Hermione suspected that this had been a last ditch effort from Fudge to save his career that had failed miserably- they had been unable to recapture Pettigrew.

Hermione also informed her that Potter would be moving in with Sirius part time, something both men were very pleased about (especially after Potter confirmed that Sirius was not in contact with the rest of his family. Git.) Hermione and Bellatrix started devising more and more creative methods to see each other over break- Bellatrix, who very much wanted to see a muggle house (or really just a muggle) was eager to go over to Hermione’s while her parents were out of the house- something they would have to plan carefully.

Amid all the chaos, Professor Lupin resigned quietly- Snape had spread the rumor of him being a werewolf among the Slytherin students. Bellatrix was deeply sad about this- she had liked him, as he was the only competent professor they’d ever had for defense. Hermione wasn’t too worried, though- she told Bellatrix she was sure to see him again, as he was moving in with Harry and Sirius, and Hermone was planning to visit them over the summer.

They all said their goodbyes, and Bellatrix sat with her sister and her friends (which was becoming a far too regular occurrence for Bellatrix’s liking). 

On their way home, Bellatrix pressed her face to the window until she could no longer see the school.


	11. Part 4: Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Harry Potter

**Part 4: Chapter 1**

“Remind me again, Hermione. Why are we not allowed to tell your friends about this other friend that we’re going to meet?”

Hermione sighed. She had convinced her parents to drive her to a shopping mall about three quarters of the way to Black Manor (which was not terribly far from her house, only half an hour). Now she was trying to convince them to not mention Bellatrix if they talked to Harry and Ron, or anyone else.

“ _ Because _ ,” Hermione said carefully, “she’s not exactly in the same- social group as I am. Harry and Ron don’t like her, mostly because she thinks they’re stupid and has told them so several times, but also because she’s in Slytherin.”

“I see,” said her father, clearly still not seeing. “And how did you come to be friends with someone who calls your friends stupid?”

“She hangs out in the library a lot. She’s just- well, it’s her family. They’re a pure wizarding family, and they have, well, strong beliefs about families that aren’t. She’s quite nice when she wants to be, though, and her younger sister is absolutely adorable.”

“You know, I think I’ve heard the name Bellatrix before,” said her mother, frowning. “Have you mentioned her before?”

“Ah- well, remember that time in the book store?”

“That was her? Dear lord, Hermione, you’re friends with her?”

“Yes. That was her parents, anyway- she had to agree with them, because they’re  _ horrible _ and apparently her father locks her up in her room whenever she does something she doesn’t like.”

Her parents did not respond to this. “So- that’s why we can’t tell your other friends.”

“Exactly. I honestly don’t think they could complain about her if we told them that she’s gotten them out of quite a few situations, but we’re having far too much fun to stop now.”

Her parents exchanged knowing looks. “You know, I remember when we were young, your father and I used to do things like that. We dated in secret for a few months, it was very fun.”

“Mum, it’s not like I’m  _ dating _ her or anything, that would be- well- oh, I don’t know. We’re friends.”

“Friends who are meeting up in secret at a mall?”

“ _ Mum! _ ”

“I don’t recall spending half an hour to get ready to go out with my friends.”

“Dad, not you too!”

“Oh, Hermione, we’re just teasing you. It’s nice that you’ve got plenty of friends when you go off to school.”

Hermione huffed and sank lower into the back seat. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was panicking. She had changed her robes 5 different times, even though she knew it didn’t matter, because Hermione would be transfiguring them into muggle clothes, but she couldn’t help it because what else was she supposed to  _ do _ while she waited until it was time to leave? She was acting like an idiot- she didn’t quite know what had come over her, she had been talking to Hermione all summer, but not in  _ person _ , where the other girl would take one look at her and realize something was wrong.

Except there was  _ nothing _ wrong, of course not, just another one of her father’s moods, it would go away once he got back from his trip and had time to cool off. It would be different if she or one of her sisters had done something wrong, because he stayed furious at them for weeks, but it had been her mother for a change so Bellatrix felt no need to interfere like she did with her sisters, because her mother didn’t need  _ protection _ , and had certainly never done anything for her. 

But Hermione now knew her far too well- better than anyone ever had, really, outside of her family, and Bellatrix reasoned that this was why she was nervous, but there was just something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on….

When it was finally time to go, she told Andy she was in charge (something Andy took on with gusto) and headed down the lane. She would be walking most of the way to the muggle town- she could not, apparently, ride a broomstick into a shopping area.

She could, however, fly it part of the way there- the walk to the edge of the manor’s grounds was a large portion of the trip.

When she got there, Hermione was not there, so Bellatrix felt very odd standing there alone in her robes. She didn’t have to wait long, and Hermione stepped out of a strange box-like structure that moved around on wheels that she had said was called a  _ car _ . Bellatrix ran over and hugged her, before turning to face her parents. She remembered with a lingering feeling of horror the first time she had seen them, and they seemed to remember it as well. But the Grangers were cordial, and shook her hand before telling them that they would be at a diner (whatever that was), and drove off, Bellatrix still marveling at the car.

“C’mon, let’s go.”

After changing her robes into a set of muggle clothes with a flick of her wand (this was the middle of nowhere, practically, so the trace wouldn’t be able to track Hermione to this location), Hermione grabbed her hand and led her to the large building. They walked through the strange ground that was black and hard and not at all like dirt, but that was much more convenient to walk around on- Bellatrix was fairly sure that this was called a “parking lot”, as Hermione had told her to meet her in one.

The large letters on the store read, “IKEA”. Bellatrix figured out (all on her own) that this was likely the name of a brand, much like Honeydukes or Zonko’s. Bellatrix was not sure how the doors were going to open, as they had no handles, but when they stepped on a mat they slid open, startling her. “How did they do that?”

“Motion sensors.” At Bellatrix’s confused look, she explained further. “The mat senses that someone stepped on it, and it signals for the doors to open.”

“Fascinating!”

There were a million more strange items inside of the store. Bellatrix couldn’t even keep track of all of them- something called a fridgyrator, the light bulbs that Hermione had mentioned last year, coffee makers, stoves, pots and pans- not to mention the things making up the actual building.

“What’s that?”

“That’s an air conditioner. It’s keeping the building cool.”

“What’s that?”

“Security camera. It can- record the things that it sees so if someone steals something they can see who did it.”

“What’s  _ that? _ ” They had come to the most interesting thing in the store- a large, black  _ something _ . Bellatrix could not figure out what it’s purpose was- did muggles use them to reflect light? Bake things? Make a room hotter? See the future?

“A television. It can project moving pictures. Muggles call them videos. They can show the recorded scenes from cameras, movies that muggles put together for entertainment-”

“Can you turn it on?”

Hermione found a button, which caused the screen to flicker on. Bellatrix watched, fascinated, as a strange, white, humanoid thing came out of this metal container and landed on a dusty surface. “What  _ is  _ that thing?”

“What thing?”

“The white thing!”

“Huh? Oh! Oh, that’s a person, but they’re in a space suit. He’s on the moon- he needs the suit to protect him, because you can’t breathe in space.”

“Muggles have gone to the  _ moon _ ?!”

“Nearly 30 years ago actually.”

“Blimey!”

They went on like this for 3 hours, until the Granger parents found them examining a set of silverware (or, at least, Bellatrix was). They reluctantly said goodbye, but then Granger said, “Wait! Are you going to the Quidditch World Cup?”

“Course I am. Don’t tell me you’re going too?” Bellatrix grinned. This was great- it would be only too easy to slip away from her family and meet up with Hermione wherever she was camping.

“Mr. Weasley got tickets in the top box. He’s bringing the whole family, plus Harry and I. I’ll try to meet up with you there- you can get home alright, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Er- bye.”

Bellatrix awkwardly nodded to her parents, who were smiling down at them. She blushed furiously when she realized she had been holding Hermione’s hand nearly the whole time, and let it slide out of her grasp as she turned and walked out of the store.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione didn’t care much for Quidditch. Therefore, she thought it was quite extreme that so many people had come for the match- she supposed it was alright if one lived in Britain, or whatever country it was being held in, but to travel so far and go through the trouble of getting international portkeys? She didn’t think she would do it.

She wrote a quick note to Bellatrix telling her where to meet her- when they did meet, Andy came with her, while Narcissa had sent her excuses. Being 10, she didn’t have many except “it was too muddy”- unfortunately, her older sisters had no such reservations.

Hermione didn’t quite know how it had happened, but by the time they went back to their tent, both girls were splattered in mud and dirt, and had to clean themselves off with magic. Hermione shook her head in exasperation as she headed back to her own tent.

The good thing about staying with such a busy family as the Weasleys was that no one even noticed she’d been missing except for Ginny, who hadn’t been paying enough attention to really question her about it.

The next day, they climbed all the way to the top box. Harry and Ron were testing out the features on their omnioculars, while Hermione searched the crowd for Bellatrix. She figured she would be in a high-up box, and she was right- the Black and Malfoy families strode right into the top box. Harry and Ron moaned, and while Hermione wasn’t pleased about the Malfoys and Bellatrix’s parents, she was perfectly happy with Andy and Bella (jury was still out on Narcissa- she had yet to meet the girl).

She did not talk to Bella during the match- there was too much noise, but she could hear her familiar cackle as she pulled Draco back from the ledge after the veela came onto the field.

For hours afterward, the boys went over the match in excruciating detail, and at some point Hermione excused herself, feeling as if she would go mad if she had to listen to any more. Ginny joined her half an hour later, claiming the boys had gone to bed. Tired from the long day, Hermione fell into a deep sleep.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix ran as fast as she could. One thought ran through her mind: I have to warn her.

Her father and Abraxas and a few others were planning- something, she didn’t know what, but all of a sudden they were putting on masks and talking about mudbloods and Hermione was probably asleep somewhere in all the mess of tents, and she had to go and warn her.

Her mind flew back to another time when she’d done much the same thing, when Hermione was the bushy haired mudblood who read too much and cried in a bathroom while a troll ran around the school.  _ Granger _ , Bellatrix thought with a smirk as she leaped over a fence. 

Knowing they were around here somewhere, Bellatrix could only hope as she slowed down to look more closely at the signs- there was no organization at all, she didn’t know if she would ever find-

Weasley. She had never been happier to see the name. She sprinted towards it, pausing when she saw the two tents, but quickly diving for the smaller one- there were less girls, she figured, and pushed the flap open. 

“Hermione! Hermione, wake up!”

“Black? What are you doing here?”

“Weaslette, get out of bed, get dressed, and get packed, you’ve got to get out of here. Granger!”

“Who- Bellatrix? What’s happening?”

“Death Eaters! Coming, they’re coming, you have to go! Now!”

Hermione flew into action, grabbing two packs and pushing Ginny out of the door. Hermione flicked her wand and the tent collapsed in on itself, even as Bellatrix was starting to hear people screaming and was that fire in the distance?

“Mr. Weasley! Mr. Weasley, there are Death Eaters-”

Bellatrix took this as her cue to leave- it wouldn’t do for Arthur Weasley to know she was there. Speaking of which-

She grabbed Weaslette and growled into her ear, “I was never here, got it?” She nodded, and Bellatrix took off, with one last glance at Hermione, who was rambling to Mr. Weasley.

She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she knew she needed to go farther through to the camp, where people might not hear the very faint screaming-

“MacMillan! Get your fat arse out of bed-”

Ernie MacMillan appeared, bleary eyed, at the entrance of his tent. “Black? The bloody hell are you-”

She snapped her fingers under his nose. “Wake up, MacMillan! Get your parents, whatever, and get out. My father and his friends are organizing a- something, I don’t really know, but I know they’re planning chaos and-” He was still staring in confusion. “Death Eaters! Coming! Now! Go get dressed!”

This snapped him out of it, and he nodded shakily, ducking back into the tent. She entered into a forest of green shamrocks, grabbed a bell, and rang it loudly. “Wake up!”

A red-headed man was the first one to come staggering out of his tent. “What the hell are you doing? It’s the middle of the night-”

She knocked him on the side of the head. “Get everyone out of bed, there are Death Eaters coming. Hear the screaming?” Flicking his ear for good measure, she set off again.

By now, people were already starting out of their tents, looking around for the source of the screaming. Deciding that rousing individuals out of bed was much more trouble than it was worth, she took the bell and shook it as loud as possible, running around and yelling, “The Death Eaters are coming!”

She was sure she looked insane, but it worked nonetheless.

When she had run as much as she could possibly go, and when it was unlikely that anyone was still sleeping, she dashed into the forest and leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. This whole saving people business was rather exhausting.

Then she spotted something odd. A house elf, running into the forest- or trying to. She was tugging against some invisible force. Bellatrix thought for a moment that she must have been ordered to stay in the tent, but it looked more like she was fighting a person rather than some unseen force. 

_ An invisibility cloak _ . It was certainly possible- she knew Potter owned one, and he couldn’t be the only one, as her father had expressed his longing to have one before. Drawing her wand, she took careful aim.

“Petrificus Totalus!”

Sure enough, something knocked the house elf over, and a single foot became visible. The house elf looked very frightened, covering her large ears and muttering “no no no no” under her breath. Resolving to help the elf later, she uncovered the rest of the man.

She felt as if she recognized him, somehow. Before she could place it, however, the elf snapped her fingers and Bellatrix was sent flying back 5, 10, 20 feet before hitting a tree and falling to the ground. 

By the time she got to her feet, the elf and the human had gone.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s ridiculous how much they’re dragging this out,” Hermione sighed, rolling up the copy of the prophet and setting it next to her. She, Harry, and Ron were sitting in a compartment on the train. The news had been abuzz since the Quidditch World Cup- about the death eaters, about the dark mark, about the mysterious savior who had woken half of the camp so they could get to safety.

Well,  _ that _ one she knew about- it was just like Bella, really, to do something reckless like run through a camp ringing a bell and screaming about Death Eaters. Harry and Ron had had countless theories regarding this event, and none of them could be farther from the truth. The  _ Daily Prophet _ ’s favorite was that it had been Dumbledore disguised as a woman, which Hermione frankly found hilarious. She wondered if Bella was flattered- knowing her, she probably was.

“Well, it’s a big thing. There was so much security, but they still can’t find the bloke that did it. Reflects really badly on the Ministry, right?” Ron asked, biting into a licorice wand.

“Yeah. It’s not a good sign, especially not after that dream I had-”

“You’re right, Harry. I just hope nothing too horrible happens this year.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix tapped her foot nervously. It was taking longer than usual for the first years to get to the Great Hall- she thought it very likely that one of them had drowned in the torrent of rain coming down.

Finally, a bunch of tiny, shivering children came in, all huddled together. It was actually quite cute if you didn’t think about why so much. One kid, that Bellatrix suspected was the brother Colin Creevey had gone on about all last year, was wearing Hagrid’s coat and mouthed to his brother, “I fell in the lake!”, confirming Bellatrix’s suspicions. She studied the child- had she really ever been that small? She had grown much more over the summer- compared to her own previous height, at least. The very top of her curls still didn’t quite reach Hermione’s eyes, and Hermione was just over average height.

She turned her attention to the sorting- the hat had an odd message about inter house unity. Well, she supposed, I haven’t exactly been sticking to only Slytherins. She met Hermione’s eye and smiled, before looking quickly down at her plate.

During the feast, Dumbledore gave them an exciting announcement: the Triwizard Tournament would be renewed that year.

She grinned in anticipation of having visiting students- it would be rather fascinating to learn about their schools and cultures. She was not, however, happy about Quidditch being cancelled. Bloody unfair.

Everyone went to bed chattering in excitement about the upcoming event, as well as the new teacher- many of the parents of Slytherin students hated the wizard, which Bellatrix took to mean that he was decent.

She found out more when she had her first class with him. Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, ex-Auror and completely paranoid bastard. She wondered what he was going to show them- it likely wouldn’t be anything for the faint of heart.

“Can anyone tell me,” he growled, looking out at them, “how many Unforgivable Curses there are?”

Oh, boy.

Hermione’s hand raised hesitantly into the air and he nodded at her. “Three, sir.”

“That’s right. Granger?” She nodded. “The three unforgivable curses,” he muttered, writing the name on the chalkboard. “Using any one of these will win you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Now.”

He pulled out a spider from a jar, and, pointing his wand at it, said, “Engorgio!” The spider grew- Weasley squeaked and leaned back in his chair. “Now. Who can tell me an Unforgivable Curse?”

Even Hermione didn’t raise her hand. Bellatrix knew this was out of reluctance to answer- Hermione had looked up Unforgivable Curses years ago, when Bellatrix had told her about how purebloods always got away with using illegal spells (after accidentally letting slip that her father used one on her).

To Bellatrix’s astonishment, it was Weasley’s hand that went in the air. “Weasley, yes?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have a curse for me?”

“My dad told me about one. The Imperious Curse?”

Moody, nodded, and pointed his wand at the spider again. “Imperio!”

The spider got up, moving as if it was a puppet on a string, dancing around on the desk before leaping from desk to desk. Parkinson squealed and grabbed onto her when the spider landed on their desk while Bellatrix rolled her eyes.

The laughter died down as Moody went on to explain the horrible things one could be made to do under the Imperius curse, told them about people claiming to have been innocent during the first wizarding war, under the influence of the curse.

The day was full of surprises- when Moody asked for another curse, Longbottom raised his hand.

Moody checked his roster. “Longbottom, is it?”

Oh, shit. Of course, Longbottom would know this particular curse- the one that had driven his parents to insanity. The one her father-

_ No _ , she told herself forcefully,  _ let’s not go there. _

“What curse do you have for us?”

“Well, there’s the- the cruciatus curse.”

Moody nodded, and readied his wand. “Crucio.”

The spider twitched in agony, legs flailing about. He held it out for a while- Longbottom was looking pale, but Moody didn’t notice.

“Stop it! Can’t you see it’s bothering him, stop it!” Thank Merlin for Hermione.

Moody lifted the curse and turned to face her. “Perhaps you can tell us the last curse, Ms. Granger.” Hermione shook her head.

Pointing his wand at the spider one last time, he said, “Avada Kedavra!” And the spider fell to the desk, unmarked.

“Only one person is known to have survived this curse. And he is sitting in this room.”

Everyone tried their best to not look at Potter, who was staring intently at the blackboard, probably not even seeing it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix, along with the rest of the school, leaned forward in anticipation as the Beauxbatons carriage landed gracefully on the ground. A set of steps folded out, and one of the biggest feet Bellatrix had ever seen stepped down.

Dumbledore rushed out to greet the giant woman, who was the only person Bellatrix had ever seen that was as tall as Hagrid, and the students came out and awaited the arrival of the second school. All of the Beauxbatons students were taking out jackets- “It’s not  _ that _ cold,” Bellatrix muttered.

The Durmstrang students came out of a great ship in the Black Lake- they, at least, looked much more appreciative of the Hogwarts grounds, and were taking off their heavy fur coats.

They all headed into the Great Hall for the feast- Draco sucked up to Victor Krum, who Bellatrix thought was overrated, while the rest of the Slytherins started asking about the alleged practicing of Dark Arts at the northern school. This made them look slightly uncomfortable, so Bellatrix began talking loudly about the Time Draco Had Been Punched in the Face by Hermione Granger, as well as his many other failures, most of which involved Quidditch. By the end of it, everyone (even Parkinson) was red in the face with laughter, while Draco looked like he had never hated her more. Mission accomplished.

There was a great holdup as everyone exited the hall, and Igor Karkaroff (an old friend of her father’s) stopped to gape at Harry bloody Potter. Bellatrix was quick to tell him that Potter was not all he was painted to be, effectively tarnishing his reputation. All in a day's work.

Bellatrix spent every moment she could in the Great Hall watching students put their names in, as well as laughing at numerous attempts from younger students to get past Dumbledore’s age line. Hermione sat near her, rolling her eyes occasionally, and only looking up when Victor Krum came in, dropped a piece of parchment into the goblet, and left. This, for some reason, did not sit well with Bellatrix.

Finally, the big day arrived. Bellatrix had already debated with Hermione on who was most likely to win it- Bellatrix very much wanted Johnson to get it, as she respected her Quidditch abilities, while Hermione was adamant that it was going to be Dumbass Diggory.

Hermione was, unfortunately, right, and Bellatrix groaned, thinking of the lovely ten galleons she would be parting with. The champions all went into a side room, and Dumbledore started talking, only to stutter to a halt. The cup had begun emitting a red flame again, and the whole hall watched in astonishment as it spit out one more piece of parchment. Dumbledore snatched it out of the air and unfolded it.

“Harry Potter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	12. Part 4: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own harry potter

**Part 4: Chapter 2**

In the days following the selection of champions, Hermione found herself spending more and more time with Bellatrix, as she often did when there were copious amounts of drama in her friend group. Ron and Harry did not seem to know what to do without her- as a result, both were floundering in their classes, and could be found sitting listlessly in the Common Room late at night, moping about. She hoped that this would provide a quick solution to their problems- if they got desperate enough for homework help, they might combine forces to get her to come back to them.

In the meantime, she fully enjoyed the time spent in the library with Bella. As the classes got more advanced, they were able to discuss much more rigorous topics, and Bella, unlike Harry and Ron, was able to provide another quick mind that was more than open to challenging discussions. They even took to meeting up outside of the library- taking care to avoid other students, they met once a week at the Black Lake to simply sit in peace and quiet and occasionally watch the Giant Squid.

Around this time, Ginny had finally come to her with questions about Bellatrix coming to warn them about Death Eaters. She supposed she was suspicious about the over-average time that Hermione was spending in the library, and so became one of the only Gryffindors to ever step foot in the library on purpose. After discovering that Bellatrix had been instrumental in saving her from the chamber of secrets, she was eager to strike up a friendship- it turned out that Ginny was also rather passionate about Quidditch, and their discussions often left Hermione in the dust.

Not even half a month later, Harry and Ron finally caved when Ron came running to tell Harry about the dragons and they came to her to beg help in figuring it out. Bellatrix helped Hermione brainstorm for a while- Bella offered a fresh perspective on the whole situation, to say the least. Bellatrix reasoned that whoever had entered Harry into the tournament either wanted him dead or wanted him singled out, in the spotlight, to try to get to him. So, Harry would either have to do really well or really horribly.

Bellatrix was quick to point out Harry’s many flaws, which she seemed to think was necessary for his success. After hour after hour of sitting in the library, thinking up things from what the task would involve to plans for the funeral (on Bella’s part, at least. Hermione smacked her over the head for suggesting this). They came up with contingency plans for every single scenario they could cook up (some of which got very gruesome, again, thanks to Bella). Most of them involved Quidditch, since she finally got Bella to reluctantly agree that Harry was good at flying, if nothing else. 

When the day of the first task arrived, Hermione and Ron sat together in the stands, anxiously holding their breath. Hermione hoped Harry remembered their plan- it was one of the simpler ones (courtesy of Bella), so he should be able to get it. Diggory went first, and he transfigured a rock into a dog. He was nearly successful- the dragon decided that Diggory looked tastier at the last second and went after him instead. Fleur Delacour enchanted the dragon to sleep- aside from getting set on fire briefly, her endeavor went well. Hermione thought Krum did the worst- his dragon crushed half the real eggs. Finally, Harry appeared out of the side of the stadium.

The crowd waited nervously as he stood there, looking up at the dragon. Drawing a large breath, he raised his wand, and shouted, “ _ Accio Golden Egg! _ ”

Everyone fell into a stunned silence as the prize zoomed through the air, straight into Harry’s waiting arms.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He cheated! The Potter boy cheated!”

As the judges debated over scoring, the voice of Igor Karkaroff could be heard from all the way across the stands. None of them knew quite what to do, and even Dumbledore looked slightly baffled. Barty Crouch had determined that it was not technically against the rules to simply summon the egg, because no one on the committee had thought of it. Hermione thought this was another example showing that wizards were quite stupid, if two teenage girls were able to think of something they couldn’t.

In the end, Harry earned the most points, for an “ingenious idea and a keen intellect” (Hermione could hear Bellatrix’s laughter even from her spot in the stands), and everyone spent the rest of the day in a kind of stunned haze, except for Hermione and Bellatrix, who had a small celebratory party in the library.

Now, Hermione was sitting in Transfiguration, trying not to laugh at the horrified looks on Harry and Ron’s faces- McGonagall had announced the upcoming Yule Ball, leaving the boys with permanently red faces. The girls in her dorm gossiped quite a lot about who was going with who, and who they  _ thought _ was going with who.

“I certainly hope someone asks me,” Lavender was saying. “I can’t imagine what I would do if I didn’t have a date.” Everyone discreetly looked over at Hermione.

“I heard Harry needs a date for the first dance,” Parvati giggled. “Maybe he’ll ask one of us.” Again, they all looked at Hermione, who sighed and burrowed her face farther into her book.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unbeknownst to the students, the professors were having similar conversations as well. This type of talk usually happened in the staff room, after several bottles of firewhiskey, and a very tipsy Pomona Sprout was typically the instigator.

Severus Snape chuckled at the wild ideas of his colleagues, ranging from Diggory and Johnson to Weasley (one of the twins) and Cho Chang. 

“What say you, Snape?” Poppy asked dramatically, flinging herself into the armchair next to him. “We’re taking bets on what drama is going to happen.”

Snape considered her for a moment. Being drunk, his inhibitions were down, and so he obliged. “Hmm… I say that Black will fly into a jealous rage at whoever invites Granger, and will vehemently deny any attraction to her at the same time.” 

There was not much dissension on this one- after several years of observing their odd behaviors and secret meetups in the library, they had all concluded that at least Bellatrix was enamoured, if not both of them. After all, one did not fling themselves off of a staircase for just anyone.

Minerva giggled. “I bet she’ll just ask her. She’s certainly reckless enough.”

Filius scoffed. “Please. She’s too proud. I’ll go with Snape’s bet.”

Other teachers chimed in, with the exception of Sybill, who did not usually join them for these very important staff meetings (and when she did, she claimed it would be unfair for her to bet, as she had the Inner Eye, which elicited an eye roll from Minerva). 

Irma raised a glass and took a deep sip. “To gossip!”

Everyone else lifted their glasses (or bottles) in agreement. “To gossip!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Hermione. Did our teachers look hungover to you today?”

“Don’t be silly, Bella. Teachers probably don’t drink on school grounds.”

“Well, if you say so.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the Yule Ball approached with frightening rapidity, Bellatrix had to begin pondering who she was going to bring. She knew she was expected to bring a respectable pureblood Slytherin- like Nott, or even Zabini. The problem was that none of these people were particularly fond of her, probably because she trashed them as much as they did the Gryffindors, and were a bit scared of her. As a matter of fact, the only person in the school that actually liked her enough to go to a ball with her was Hermione, who she wouldn’t be asking because Hermione was also her best friend and she didn’t want to risk that falling apart (she didn’t realize then the implications that this and only this was her objection to bringing Hermione to a ball). 

She was considering all of this while they were sitting in the library, trying to concentrate on their schoolwork. This was rather difficult, considering the fact that Viktor Krum had decided he liked the library, and so a large crowd of giggling girls that followed him wherever he went had started frequenting there as well, much to Bellatrix and Hermione’s dismay.

“Hello. May I sit here?”

They both gaped as Viktor Krum gestured to the empty seat at their table. Hermione nodded, and Bellatrix glared at her.

“I vos vondering,” he said, clearly addressing Hermione, “if you vould do me the pleasure of being my date to the Yule Ball.”

“Oh!” Hermione gasped, taken aback. “I- er- yes, of course I will!”

Bellatrix felt her face heating up as Krum smiled, clearly pleased, and they struck up a conversation. The idiot couldn’t even pronounce her  _ name _ , and she was going to go with him to a  _ ball _ ? It was outrageous! Hermione could certainly do better than  _ Victor Krum _ , and why would he want to go with Hermione anyway? He didn’t even know her! There were plenty of people who could have taken her besides Krum who were- smarter, and younger, and nicer looking, and- and anyone, really, who was not  _ Victor Krum, _ who would probably bore Hermione with Quidditch talk because he was never  _ really _ reading in the library, apparently, just there to look at Hermione, which wasn’t creepy at all, and she took back her earlier opinions of him being a decent person because, well, because he just  _ wasn’t _ .

“Bella? Earth to Bella!” Hermione was looking at her in concern, Krum long gone.

“What?” she snapped.

Hermione looked affronted. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Just figured you’d want to go spend more time with dear  _ Viktor _ , seeing as you’re clearly  _ so _ enamoured with him.”

“Okay, out with it, Bella. What’s wrong.”

“Nothing is  _ wrong _ . I just- I, I don’t approve of it.”

“You don’t  _ approve _ of it?! Well, I’m sorry, let me just call Viktor back and tell him, ‘oh, sorry, Bellatrix doesn’t  _ approve _ of you, and since I can’t do anything  _ she _ doesn’t approve of-”

“I never said you had to do anything about it! It’s just- he’s too old for you!”

“ _ Too old for me _ ?” she seethed. “I’ll have you know that we are only 3 years apart- possibly even 2 by the time the ball comes around.”

“The bloody hell you mean, possibly even two? In case you’ve forgotten, your birthday is in September!”

“Time turner, Bella. And anyway, it doesn’t matter how old he is, I’m going with him, and that’s that!”

“Well, I don’t like him!”

Hermione huffed. “You know what? You know what I think your problem is?”

“Oh, do enlighten me.”

“You’re  _ jealous _ .”

“Am not!”

“Oh, yes you are. You’re jealous because he asked me instead of you!”

“Wha- that’s just- completely out _ rage _ ous-”

“Well what else could it be?”

Bellatrix furiously started throwing things into her bag. “Where are you going?”

“What’s it to you?” she growled, zipping the bag and throwing it over her shoulder. 

“Bellatrix, don’t be ridiculous.”

“You think I’m being ridiculous?! You’re the one that’s being ridiculous, if you think I’m  _ jealous _ over your little  _ date _ .”

“Well,  _ fine _ then! Go!” Bellatrix gave one last glare before storming out of the room, as dramatically as possible, of course.

And if she had to wipe a single tear from her eye on the way out, well, no one needed to know about that.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Severus was right,” sighed Irma as she dropped down dramatically on the couch. 

Everyone was immediately on her. While Severus had made many predictions, the only one that could have happened under Irma’s domain was….

“Granger got asked to the ball. They had this huge argument and Black ended up storming out on her.”

McGonagall groaned while Severus gloated. “You owe me 5 galleons, Minerva.”

“Who asked her to the ball?” asked Poppy.

Irma sighed. “That’s the best part.  _ Viktor Krum. _ ”

There was dead silence for a moment before Minerva burst out laughing, followed by the other teachers. “Ha! The whole school will probably be jealous when the ball comes around, never mind Bellatrix.”

“Yes, but they’ll be jealous of Granger,” chuckled Filius. “Black will be wanting to tear  _ Krum’s _ throat out instead.”

Pomona wiped the tears from her eyes. “Oh, well. What’s the bet that Black will injure Krum somewhere along the line?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Hermione? I just saw Black practically storming down the hall and since you’re like, her only friend I figured I’d come ask you what happened.”

Hermione looked up at Ginny. “She’s just jealous because someone asked me to a ball and not her.”

Ginny gasped. “Someone asked you to the ball? Who?”

Hermione smiled, glad to be able to share this with someone who wouldn’t fly into a jealous fit. “Viktor Krum.”

Ginny was immediately on her, firing off question after question, which Hermione tried her hardest to deflect. When it was over, Hermione said, “You can’t tell anyone, though. I want to surprise people- so not even Harry and Ron!”

Ginny grinned. “Oh, I won’t. They’ll certainly be surprised.”

Ginny, to Hermione’s surprise, managed to keep the secret. Harry and Ron were growing more and more desperate for dates, and were shocked when she told them she already had one, thank you very much, as did Neville. At this point, they were trying to compare themselves to other boys, particularly the ones they didn’t like (Slytherins). Malfoy was going with Pansy Parkinson- no surprise there. Crabbe and Goyle did not have dates, something they found solace in. Theodore Nott was going with Daphne Greengrass, while Blaise Zabini was accompanying Millicent Bulstrode. When investigating what had become of the other Slytherins they hated, they discovered that Bellatrix was going with Rabastan Lestrange. Hermione sent a nasty hex in his direction when she saw him terrorizing a group of first years- perfectly justifiable, though she was not quite sure what had come over her.

“But why Lestrange? He’s a jerk!” she seethed one night in the library. Ginny and Andy, who had taken to joining her in Bella’s absence, exchanged amused looks.

“You complain quite a bit about Rabastan, Hermione. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous.”

She glared at Ginny. “I am not jealous! What would I even be jealous of? I certainly don’t care who she goes to the ball with!”

Andy giggled. “Lady, methinks thou dost protest too much.”

“Oh, shut up. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because she’s going with him even though I can’t see  _ why _ -”

Ted looked up from his work. “Andy, didn’t you say she was engaged to his brother?”

Hermione’s eyes widened. “She’s  _ engaged _ ?”

“Betrothed. She had no part in the decision,” Andy said. “She despises Rodolphus.”

Still fuming a bit, Hermione turned back to her essay, pondering this new bit of information.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day of the ball was arriving, and Hermione was fairly sure that Harry had not attempted to figure out his egg. As a result, she did a very Bellatrix thing- stole the egg and tried to do it herself. It was rather frustrating- the thing did nothing but scream indecipherably. 

The girls in her dorm had increased the gossip by a tenfold, meaning she was subjected to endless theories and bits of news. Parvati and Lavender squealed for an entire hour when Harry asked them to the ball- Lavender expressing her disappointment that she could not go with Ron, though she was very happy for Padma for getting herself a date.

Everyone, it seemed, was speculating who she was bringing to the ball. During class, Parkinson and Bellatrix had laughed rather meanly when Neville told them she had a date but would not tell anyone about it. She and Bellatrix were not speaking except to insult each other, as Bellatrix had once again taken to joining the Slytherin gang in being an awful person.

“Hermione, why won’t you just  _ tell _ us?” Ron demanded. 

“I told you, you’ll see. Now finish that essay, Ron, it’s due tomorrow.”

She could tell that the boys didn’t think she actually had a date. They would be surprised, certainly- but it was a bit disappointing, to say the least, that they didn’t believe anyone would ask her.

She started to get ready several hours early- she had to fix up her hair, after all, and she wanted to have time for everything else as well.

She managed to get a spot in the bathroom where no one would see or disturb her and started to get her dress on- a light, periwinkle blue made of a floaty material- and did her hair up in an elegant bun on the back of her head. After putting on a touch of makeup and making sure that everyone in her dorm had left, she headed down to the Great Hall.

There were very few people in the halls as she walked through them- she had planned it down to the moment, and nearly everyone would be at the ball already when she got there. The people that were still in the corridors stared at her in wonder- she wasn’t sure if they actually recognized her, as she had fixed up her bushy hair and her back stood straighter without the weight of her books. 

The champions were beginning to line up with their dates by the time she peeked around the corner, and Viktor was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs, looking dashing in dress robes. She spotted Bellatrix in a deep red, tight fitting dress, and she tried to ignore the something she felt flare up in her chest when she saw her take Rabastan’s arm.

Taking a deep breath, she rounded the corner and began descending the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Also does anyone know how to join the bellamione discord server


	13. Part 4: Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Harry Potter

**Part 4: Chapter 3**

Bellatrix was not sure what had come over her when she’d said yes to Rabastan’s offer of a date. What she should have done was hex the living daylights out of him, with a kick in the crotch for good measure. But then an image of Hermione giggling with Victor Krum in the library had popped into her head, and the next thing she knew, she was arm in arm with the bastard and making her way into the great hall.

There was a sudden silence, followed by fervent muttering. Rabastan was gawking at the entrance to the Great Hall, as were most of the people present. 

“What are you gaping at?” she hissed, pulling his arm and directing him back to the door.

“The mudblood’s gotten an upgrade.”

She frowned. “What?”

She turned around to find most people fixing their gazes on the stairs. She had to strain her neck to see exactly what it was (even in her heels she was shorter than the majority of the people in front of her), and when she did see it, her mouth dropped open and stayed there for a solid minute.

Hermione looked absolutely  _ beautiful _ . 

Her  _ dress _ , and her  _ hair _ , and the way she carried herself as she moved gracefully down the stairs and took the arm of  _ fucking Viktor Krum  _ (Rabastan cackled madly when he saw this), she was smiling out at everyone staring at her, even  _ Parkinson _ was speechless, and Merlin, it was absolutely fucking amazing to see her smile, even if it wasn’t directed at Bellatrix, and-

Oh, dear, sweet Morgana, what was she  _ doing? _

She couldn’t be…  _ admiring _ her best friend! This was Hermione. Hermione wasn’t some  _ beauty queen _ or anything, and she couldn’t just have a crush on the girl who sat in the library with her all day and wrote ridiculously long essays and answered all the questions in class and made Bellatrix smile at the stupidest things, like her  _ spew _ organization, because she was passionate and eager and-

Wait. 

Did she have a crush on Hermione Granger?

_ Shit. _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, this is going well, don’t you think?”

Severus tried very hard to not spit out his drink. From a logistical standpoint, Minerva was not wrong- everything had gone right, everyone had been on time, and the whole thing had worked like clockwork. 

But on a non logistical standpoint….

Fleur Delacour had turned down every person that asked her. As a last ditch effort, she had resorted to Roger Davies, whom she seemed to have deemed the one semi-respectable person in the entire school. He had ditched his date in order to go with her- she was sitting surrounded by her friends, looking sulkily up at him as he drooled over himself. Delacour did not look particularly happy with her choice, and Severus did not blame her.

Cedric Diggory had asked Cho Chang- and, rumor had it, so had Harry Potter. They were sending each other regretful looks as Parvati Patil put on a big smile and tried to pretend Potter wasn’t a horrible date. Her sister, Padma, was sitting with Ronald Weasley, and both of them looked absolutely miserable.

And then there was Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger. They were the one couple that looked absolutely happy with their choice of partner. Krum was regarding Granger with a lovesick expression, and she was completely absorbed in their conversation, barely even noticing what she was eating. They were also, however, the couple earning the most jealousy.

The majority of people were glaring at Granger, particularly the same group of girls that had followed Krum around the whole year, as well as quite a few boys. There were, in fact, only two people staring daggers at Krum himself- Ronald Weasley, who was stabbing his food violently with his fork, and Bellatrix Black, who Severus was sure had at least one actual dagger prepared to throw at Krum.

“No one seems particularly happy with their dates,” he muttered back, composing himself.

“Well, now that they’re unhappy, they’ll know what they really want. And it’ll all work out in the end,” said Pomona cheerfully, digging into her chicken. 

Minerva chuckled. “There’s going to be some drama before they get to that point.”

“More than some. A galleon says Black will end up with Granger,” said Septima.

“And risk her father getting pissed?” snorted Severus. “5 galleons on them getting together 5th or 6th year. And ten that she’ll still marry Weasley, but have an affair with Black for several years.”

“Awfully specific, Severus,” chortled Filius. “But I’ll take you on that bet. Anything else happens, you owe me ten galleons.”

“Deal.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was having a good time. No matter that Ron was looking at Viktor like he wanted to throttle him. No matter that Bellatrix looked really beautiful in that dress. No, she was having a good time with Viktor, who was nice and smart, she supposed, and had been a perfect gentleman all night. When he went to get drinks she went to talk to Harry, as he was the only one of her friends that didn’t hate the fact that she had the audacity to get a date.

But then, of course, Ron had to come over and berate her about “ _ fraternizing with the enemy _ ”, which was just so stupid, but then they both disappeared to go wherever they went when they were angry with her. So she found Viktor again and danced with him, but she quickly lost interest- through no fault of his own, but Bellatrix was glaring at them again and she decided it was probably time to confront her because she really did not want a redo of second year.

“Mind telling me what your problem is?”

Bellatrix frowned at her. “Aren’t you too busy dancing with  _ Viktor _ ? Or did you tire of his handsome little face?”

“Bellatrix, what are you doing?”

“What the fuck do you mean, Granger?” ‘Fuck’ was a new word of Bella’s- she had overheard some older Slytherins saying it around November, and had been repeating it ever since, to Hermione’s great dismay.

“Bella, stop being ridiculous. I like Viktor, he’s- fun, and he can be quite interesting when you get to know him-”

“Ooh,  _ fun _ and  _ interesting _ , how  _ fascinating _ . I saw you, you were all over him the whole night! You know he’s competing against Potter? He’s probably just using you!”

“You know Ron said the exact same thing,” Hermione seethed.

“Well, don’t pretend you didn’t want to go with precious  _ Ron _ either.”

“What? Is that really what you think, Bella?”

“He’s been glaring at Krum all night!”

“Well so have you! And just because Ronald is jealous of my date doesn’t mean that I wanted to go with him! And just because I’m not usually the prettiest girl in school doesn’t mean that people can’t ask me to the dance!”

Bellatrix muttered something under her breath that sounded like, “Tonight… think you’re... prettiest girl.” Hermione raised her eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

Bellatrix’s cheeks turned red. “I said, only Viktor might think you’re the prettiest girl in school.”

Hermione felt the heat on her cheeks flare up. “It’s not like  _ you’re _ any better. How does it feel to have to rely on the brother of your  _ intended _ to get a date, hmm?”

Bellatrix paled, the arrogant face flickering for a second, before resuming her haughty stance. “I’ll have you know that several people have asked me to the ball. But this isn’t all school-girl, frilly little dates, this is politics, Hermione, and I couldn’t have gone with anyone else, or Rodolphus probably would’ve-”

She faltered, and Hermione felt her stomach twist in concern. “Andy said you despised Rodolphus.”

“Andy needs to learn to keep her mouth shut,” she muttered, but it had no bite in it. “And yes, of course I despise him, he’s awful and he always-”

“Always  _ what _ , Bella?” She bit her lip. “Is this what you meant in second year? When you said you had something really important on your mind? It was Rodolphus, wasn’t it. Something he did?”

“Look, I- let’s not talk about this, okay? Please?”

Hermione considered her for a moment, before holding out her arms for a hug. After all, Bellatrix had certainly insulted her far worse before- and there was something about the way she was looking at her that made her realize she would never really be able to be mad at her for long.

While they embraced, Hermione thought that Bellatrix had probably been right- Ron had likely realized too late that he would’ve liked to be Hermione’s date, if the jealous glares and sullen looks were any indication. But he had not been the only one to do those things- and, Hermione thought with a sudden realization, if Bellatrix had asked her to the ball, she would not have said no.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was not sure how to act around Hermione after Christmas eve. Sure, they had made up, but she was still spending a lot of time with Viktor (they had invited her to join them, but she said no on the grounds that she wanted to hang out with Andy and her friends, something everyone knew was a lie), and Bellatrix didn’t think she could sit there and watch  _ Viktor _ flirt around with Hermione.

Bellatrix had joined the Gryffindors at their outrage of Hagrid’s discrediting at the hands of Rita Skeeter, as she was possibly the only person that actually enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures  _ more _ when Hagrid was teaching it. Their very first lesson, Draco had gotten injured! What better teacher could they have? And she secretly enjoyed the blast ended skrewts- Hermione had wanted to get her tested for mental illnesses when she confessed this. Nevertheless, she was beyond happy when Hagrid came back after a stern talking to, and promised to work with Hermione to take Skeeter down.

To Hermione’s dismay, Harry had just figured out the egg, despite him saying he had finished it ages ago. He had figured out on his own that it had something to do with merpeople, and that something important would be stolen from him, placed at the bottom of the lake, and given an hour time limit.

“So how the hell is he planning on holding his breath for an entire hour?”

“He’s got no plan. He might just have to forfeit at this point.”

“We could think of  _ something _ ! There must be a charm he could use- what’s Krum doing?”

This was pure desperation- Bellatrix would not usually consider asking Krum for help, but if Potter died trying to swim to the bottom of the black lake, Hermione would likely be very put out, and Bellatrix had grown to learn she would do pretty much anything to make her happy.

“He wouldn’t tell me. We don’t really talk about that sort of thing. He’s more of a- physical being.”

Bellatrix covered up her growl with a hasty cough.

“Well, what if he didn’t go down into the lake? He could summon it!”

“They’re making a new rule, you can’t summon the prize.”

“Damn. Okay, then, er, he could drain the lake?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Okay, okay. What if he did something muggle? They must have a way to get underwater if they can get into space!”

“They can, but we don’t have the time or the resources to get something like that.”

“Ugh! Well, short of asking for-” Bellatrix stopped short. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” she mused, tapping her finger on the desk.

“What’s not?”

“How long do we have until the task?”

“A week.”

“Hmm. Good enough, though with Potter’s limited mental capacity-”

“Bella!”

“Alright, fine, no insulting the boyfriends.”

“Not my boyfriends.”

“Whatever. Okay, so here’s the deal. We know that they’re not actually going to take something super important to him and just keep it from him forever. If he doesn’t get it, he’ll just fail the task, and that’s the worst that’ll happen.”

Hermione nodded. “Right.”

“Okay, so the idea is, what if he just asked them for it? He could use a magnifying charm on his voice, learn a few key phrases in mermish, and ask them for whatever it is they want.”

“But why on earth would they give it to him?”

“He could tell them he’s an unwilling participant, and that someone else put his name in the goblet. C’mon, help me find some books, if there are books on Parseltongue there are books on mermish.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry took a deep breath. Now that he knew that Ron was at stake, he wasn’t too sure about his plan- but Hermione seemed certain that whatever it was that was taken would be fine, and when he took that into account, it seemed reasonable that they would not just let Ron die if he failed to complete the task.

“Champions! There is something dear to each one of you at the bottom of the lake. You have an hour to complete the task. Good luck!” Well, that was certainly cheery. The crowd shouted and cheered, with a large section waving large Gryffindor flags and screaming his name.

When the cannon went off, the other three champions dove into the lake and performed whatever charms they were using to complete the task. Harry walked in as far as he was willing to go and stopped. Then he pulled out his wand. “Sonorous.”

Everyone fell silent, waiting for him to talk. He hoped that Hermione had found him good translations, and that his pronunciation wasn’t completely horrible, and began speaking in mermish:

“ _ MERPEOPLE OF THE LAKE. _ ” Wow, that was louder than he’d thought it would be.  _ “I AM HARRY POTTER. YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF MINE. I ASK THAT YOU BRING IT TO THE SURFACE FOR ME.”  _ He would be lucky, really, if they could even understand what he was saying. He was sure Hermione would smack him over the head if she could hear his pronunciation. “ _ I WAS ENTERED INTO THIS TOURNAMENT AGAINST MY WILL. I AM BUT A MERE, IDIOTIC CHILD WITH NO MAGICAL SKILL. PLEASE TAKE PITY ON MY INCOMPETENCE. IT IS ONLY THROUGH WORKS OF OTHER PEOPLE’S GENIUS THAT I HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR. AGAIN, I ASK YOU TO BRING MY PRIZE TO THE SURFACE. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE OF THIS WHOLE TASK, AND HOPE THAT YOU WILL FORGIVE THE MINISTRY FOR BEING STUPID. THEY DO NOT MEAN IT. THANK YOU. _ ”

Harry, needless to say, had no idea what he had just said. (In fact, though he did not know this, Hermione, who had given him the words to say, had gotten it all from Bellatrix.)

He waited there, chest deep in lake water, for a good 15 minutes, in which Fleur Delacour came sputtering up to the surface, covered in marks. She gave him a weird look when she marched out. “What are you doing ‘ere?”

“Oh, I had no idea how I was supposed to do this. So my friend taught me a bit of mermish and I asked them to bring my prize up for me.”

“And… you think zat zey would do this?”

“Well, apparently it was a convincing argument. I honestly have no idea what I said.”

She stared at him incredulously before being ushered to the shore by Madam Pomfrey, who looked rather annoyed with the whole event.

15 agonizing minutes later, something broke the surface of the water, something that Harry recognized as a merperson. And, following them, Ronald Weasley came up, sputtering and coughing for air.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You made him call himself an idiot in front of hundreds of people?”

“Well he is!”

“You’re impossible, Bella.”

“Why, thank you, Hermione.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the following weeks, Hermione had a particularly hard time of it. Rita Skeeter had posted articles about her trying to seduce Harry and Viktor, and she had been getting tons of hate mail, some of which swelled up her hands, and others that screamed at her for being a whore.

Bellatrix had helped her burn them. Hermione couldn’t tell if this was because she was mad at the people who wrote them, or if she just enjoyed burning things (a sinking feeling told her it was most likely to be the latter).

It died down a bit, however, and Hermione went on with her life. She was a bit tempted to follow Skeeter’s advice (though intended as mockery) and go date Fleur next, but she didn’t think Ron or Bellatrix could take it if she asked out every available champion. She was just as determined to uncover Skeeter’s secret- after all, that had been a private conversation, where no one could hear.

Bellatrix had more than a few theories, most of which were completely outlandish. She was working with Snape, who could read her mind because he was a vampire. Skeeter herself was a vampire. Skeeter had an army of tiny people who did her bidding and collected information and rode on bugs. Skeeter was a tiny person who rode around on a bug. Skeeter  _ was _ the bug.

Hermione thought all of these were absolutely ridiculous except for perhaps the last one. It would make sense- Viktor had plucked a water bug out of her hair that could easily have been Skeeter, and when she told Bellatrix this, she was insistent upon creating some kind of scandal to catch her in the act.

This, however, was derailed by the murder of Barty Crouch, and some disturbing news from Harry in the common room.

“So you went to Dumbledore’s office, but Snape wouldn’t let you go?”

“Exactly! It’s like he was actively trying to stop me! And you know, he’s working together with Karkaroff about something, they’re always muttering together!”

“Maybe they’ve got a secret romance,” said Hermione before she could stop herself (this was one of Bella’s many conspiracy theories concerning Snape).

“Don’t be silly, ‘Mione. So they didn’t have time to find the body?”

“No! And there’s, er, something else, as well.”

Harry seemed to think that this was worse than Crouch dying, meaning it was something very serious. “When I was in Dumbledore’s office, I found this thing called a pensieve. It stores memories, almost, so you can view them when you wish. And there were a couple of disturbing things in there- trials from the first wizarding world. And, well, I was told not to tell you-”

“Then don’t tell us, Harry!”

“But it could be really important! First there was Karkaroff, who named a bunch of people that had been death eaters so he could get out of Azkaban. He mentioned Snape, and Barty Crouch Jr. The next memory was Ludo Bagman, who had been caught apparently bragging about how he knew an alleged death eater. He was obviously cleared of charges. And the last one- well, it was the trial of Crouch Jr. He was being convicted of torturing,” he lowered his voice, “the Longbottoms. To insanity.”

“And why is that important, Harry?”

“Well, it’s something they said during the trial. Apparently two other people were involved, but they both got off on ‘technical issues.’ And Moody was next to Dumbledore, and he muttered, ‘more like paid off the Ministry. Not even Crouch is immune to bribery, it seems.’ Guess who those two people are!”

“Who?!”

He leaned in close to them, and said in a whisper, “Reinhard Lestrange and Cygnus Black.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day of the third task had arrived. Sirius had shown up to support Potter (and was neglecting to speak to Bellatrix, how rude), along with the entire Weasley clan. 

After exams, she and Hermione lounged in the library, basking in the wonderful aftermath of exams and having no more work to do. After a while, Bellatrix yawned and laid her head down in Hermione’s lap, letting her comb through her hair (and failing miserably). 

“Bella?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

Bellatrix looked up at her. Hermione was biting her lip, clearly conflicted about something. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“I- listen, Harry told me something recently….”

As she continued with her story, Bellatrix felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, and sat up so quickly she nearly rammed her head into Hermione’s. “Bella? Are you alright?”

“I- I don’t know.”

“Did you know?”

“No, of course not! I mean, I knew that it had happened to his parents but I never thought that Cygnus had anything to do with it, I just thought it was that Barty-” Bellatrix leaped out of Hermione’s arms. “Barty Crouch Jr.!”

“What about him?”

“It was him, I know it was! He was at the Quidditch World Cup!”

It was Hermione’s turn to look shocked. “Bella, we wrote to Sirius about this. Barty Crouch died in Azkaban.”

“No, I swear it was him! I didn’t realize it at first, but I knew I recognized him, from old pictures and stuff! He was under an invisibility cloak, there was a house elf dragging him towards the woods-”

Hermione gasped. “Winky! We saw her too, people thought she’d summoned the Dark Mark, but we’d heard a male voice- Bella, you don’t think it was him?”

“It could’ve been! He must’ve gotten his hands on a wand-”

“Harry’s! He used Harry’s wand, and he must have snatched it when- Bella! He was in the top box, that’s why Winky was there, she wasn’t waiting for Crouch, she was making sure his son behaved! But then- that must be why Crouch went to search for someone even though people had already gone to look! He must have found him under the cloak and stunned him or something and brought him home-”

“Maybe he’s escaping again! Crouch hadn’t been showing up anywhere, maybe his son was cursing him or something!”

“Harry said Crouch had something important to tell Dumbledore, that must’ve been it! And he’s also been having strange dreams lately, about Pettigrew and You-Know-Who and some other man, maybe it’s Crouch!”

“What did they say in the dream?”

“You-  _ Voldemort _ , was trying to come back. And- he wanted Harry for something, but they had to design something based off of some information they’d gotten because he was really well protected-”

“They must’ve gotten their hands on a ministry employee that knew about the tournament! And they must’ve entered his name- or at least, Crouch did. Meaning he’s probably in the castle somewhere-”

“Maybe he’s polyjuiced! But who-”

They shared a wide eyed look. “Moody!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They ran as fast as they possibly could towards the Quidditch pitch. They could hear Bagman’s commentary- they had already entered the maze, who knew how long ago- if only they hadn’t lost track of time-

“Potter and Diggory are nearing the cup, c’mon boys, it’s only an acromantula!”

“Shit!”

“C’mon, we can still warn them-”

Dumbledore, who had retreated to a tent once everyone had gone in, was just settling in when they burst into the tent.

“Professor Dumbledore!” 

“It’s Moody-”

“Well, Crouch, really, Crouch Jr.-”

“He’s working with Voldemort-”

“He wants to kill Potter-”

“But he’s trying to get him to the Dark Lord, not kill him-”

“Meaning he’s trying to get him to win-”

“You have to stop him!”

Dumbledore looked absolutely baffled. “I beg your pardon?”

“We think Barty Crouch Jr. is disguised as Moody, he’s been setting up this whole thing from the beginning! And now-”

“They’ve both touched the cup, there they go-”

“Oh,  _ no _ .”

“Well, where have they gone?”

“Professor, he’s given them to Voldemort! We have to go get them!”

Dumbledore sprang out of his seat and ran from the tent. Bellatrix and Hermione shared a glance. Hermione sighed. “I’ll go first, you follow a couple seconds after, alright?”

At Bellatrix’s nod, Hermione took off after Dumbledore. It would be a real chore to have to pretend to have figured the whole thing out yet again- after all, there would be huge gaps missing in her story this time that even Harry and Ron could figure out.

By the time she got there, Dumbledore had stunned Moody, and Sirius was screaming, “WHERE THE HELL IS HE? WHERE THE HELL HAS IT TAKEN HIM-”

“Sirius, calm down!” Hermione shouted, grabbing his arms. “You need to calm down!”

He took several deep breaths, then turned to Dumbledore. “And why the hell have you stunned Moody? He’s the best damn Auror there is!”

Dumbledore did not answer, as he was sniffing Moody’s flask. “Polyjuice. Severus, run and get me some veritaserum. Sirius, get Minerva and Filius and tell them to go to where the cup left. We may still be able to trace it.”

They both ran off, and Dumbledore waved his wand over ‘Moody’, muttering a few spells. He began to change- his hair turning straw colored, fake leg popping out and a real one growing in, same with the eye- until the man before them was not Moody, but one Barty Crouch Jr.

“Minister!” Dumbledore yelled. Scrimgeor, the new Minister, came running up, followed closely by Fudge, who had been allowed to keep a position of power, albeit a smaller one. “Bring this man to my office. And check his office for the real Alastor- I suspect he is around there somewhere.”

They nodded and ran off. 

Dumbledore looked around for someone else with authority to hand responsibility to while he tried to rescue Harry. Finding no one, he settled for the next best thing- “Hermione, get everyone settled down, and get Krum out of the maze.”

Well that was just unfair.

Sighing, she put her wand to her mouth, muttered, “Sonorous”, and stashed it back in her pocket. “EVERYBODY CALM DOWN. THERE HAS BEEN A PROBLEM WITH THE CUP, AND THERE HAS BEEN AN IMPOSTER DISCOVERED. WE ARE GOING TO NEED EVERYONE TO STAY IN THEIR SEATS AND TRY TO BE QUIET.” Lifting the charm, she turned to a bewildered Bagman. “Get Viktor out of the maze. And Fleur, if she’s not already out. Someone else needs to start getting people out of here and back up to the castle.” She turned to face the crowd again. “WE ARE GOING TO GET EVERYONE BACK TO THE CASTLE. PLEASE LISTEN TO OFFICIALS WHEN THEY TELL YOU WHERE TO GO. STUDENTS ARE TO GO FIRST- EVERYONE THIRD YEAR AND UNDER, FOLLOW YOUR PREFECTS UP TO THE SCHOOL. Bagman, what did I tell you? Go!”

“Why should we listen to some mudblood?” shouted a voice she was relatively sure belonged to Malfoy.

“Because Dumbledore said so, you little piece of-”

“RONALD! IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE, SO HELP ME-”

There were sudden screams from the stand, and Hermione turned around at calls of, “They’re back!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry was hiding behind a tombstone. He was very sure he was going to die at the hands of Voldemort, surrounded by jeering Death Eaters, in this horrible graveyard, staring blankly up at the sky just like Cedric. Deciding he might as well go out fighting, he was preparing to get to his feet when a blinding white light erupted from near the portkey.

“HARRY, GET DOWN!”

_ Dumbledore? _ !

Sure enough, the Death Eaters all scattered when they saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sirius appear and start firing spells everywhere. It seemed that he was forever being saved by his teachers right before his moment of death- clearly, he had someone to thank for warning them. It was probably Hermione.

Sirius ran over to him and dragged him to the portkey, where Flitwick and McGonagall were battling the few Death Eaters that had actually stayed. Dumbledore sent a stunner that slipped through Voldemort’s defenses, summoned Cedric’s body, and grabbed onto the portkey.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire school was in shock. 

First, Cedric Diggory was dead. Even Bellatrix had to admit it was a rather tragic event- Andy had been mourning the loss with her Hufflepuff friends.

Next, Harry Potter had come back clutching his godfather, covered in blood, and screaming about Voldemort. Bellatrix did not doubt him- she could tell, however, that many people did, and those people were lobbying for Fudge to retake the seat of Minister so that someone could ‘regain control over the ministry.’

Then, Fudge had gone and ordered a dementor to suck Crouch’s soul out, thereby eliminating the one bit of proof they had that Voldemort had indeed returned (aside, of course, from the eyewitness accounts of some of the most acclaimed wizards of the century, as well as from the Boy Who Lived and the Man the Ministry had Already Not Believed And Cost Them Their Reputation). 

All in all, not a great end to an already horrible year.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was saddened to say goodbye to Viktor. Not because she was attached to him, not in that way- sure, he was nice and good looking and smart in his own way, but when she kissed him all she could see was Bella’s face, so they would do better as friends, she thought, and promised to write to him in the future.

She and Bella spent a few days of just sitting in the library and relaxing after the stressful year- they ended up curled up on the chairs, Bella falling asleep every now and then. They stayed like this for the majority of the time before term ended, Hermione occasionally leaving to spend time with Harry and Ron, and Bella (reluctantly) going to spend time with Parkinson and Greengrass. When it was finally time for them to leave for the summer, Bella seemed to be steeling herself for something before leaving Hermione with a peck on the cheek, and a promise of something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	14. Part 5: Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Year 5!   
> I don't own Harry Potter

Part 5: Chapter 1

**Bella- can’t tell you much now, but Harry’s been attacked by Dementors and is coming to stay at headquarters. He used the patronus charm to get rid of them- his muggle cousin was there, so the ministry tried to expel him, but Dumbledore stepped in so they’re going to have a hearing sometime soon. Know anything that might help him out? -Hermione**

Bellatrix frowned, tapping her quill on the top of her book. Her correspondances with Hermione had brought forth a lot of information that summer- the Order of the Phoenix, mentions of its members, overheard conversations- while she was supplying plenty of information about Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She and Hermione had agreed early on that they were going to help the Order- Bellatrix, after all, had no loyalty to her father’s little organization, and no sympathy for the people who wanted to exterminate people like Hermione (and even Ted Tonks, who she had grown rather fond of, not that she would ever admit that).

But this was news- it was no secret that Voldemort had taken control of the dementors, but it did not seem like him to send them after Potter. He would probably much rather he be brought before him, preferably with a soul, to be tortured and killed. Bellatrix said as much in her next letter, and said she would get back to her on more information.

A week later, a very short time before the hearing was to take place, Bellatrix overheard her father and Abraxas Malfoy bragging about the Ministry’s obvious measures to get rid of Potter. At the end of that conversation, she rushed to write to Hermione.

_ Just overheard father and Malfoy talking, they are going to change the time of the hearing last minute and they’re holding a full criminal trial. Changing the time is completely against protocol, make sure to mention that to Potter. They also are not going to really let him testify, also against protocol, so as long as he’s able to point those things out and try not to be an idiot (a monumental task, I’m sure) he should be fine. _

**Thanks- and, really, must you insult my friends so much?**

_ Yes. I must. I need it to survive. _

**Drama queen. Also, just told Harry- he asked me how I knew all of this stuff, and I just said ‘i have my ways’. I think he took this to mean that I went to the library. I’ll let you know how it turns out.**

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**It’s all good! They just got back to the Ministry, he used all of that information, and they were completely flustered! Fudge turned a lovely color of purple- can’t believe Scrimgeor is letting him take so much control back, but I suppose that’s what the public wants, someone to assure them that Voldemort isn’t actually back.**

_ Please, everyone knows Scrimgeor’s barely in charge anymore. He’s not exactly popular. I heard the Ministry’s making a ton of reforms for Hogwarts next year- they’re sending a Ministry employee to teach defense and inspect all the teachers, or some such nonsense. Should be a fun year- not. _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey!”

“Hermione!”

Before Hermione could so much as blink, Bella had leapt up and embraced her. She had been patrolling the train for a bit (prefect duties), and, upon discovering where Bella was sitting, decided to pay her a visit.

“Hey, ‘Mione!”

“Hermione! So good to see you!”

Hermione grinned back at Andy and Ted, and waved at the rest of the people in the compartment- Colin and Dennis Creevey, and a first year she didn’t recognize.“What’s this?” Bella demanded, seizing the Prefect’s badge on her robes and cackling with delight. “Prefect! Of course you would get it-”

“You didn’t?”

Andy groaned. “No. Parkinson did. Father was furious.”

“No matter,” Bella shrugged after sending a quick glare at Andy. “I want you to meet someone.”

Finally, Hermione noticed the last person in the compartment. A small blonde girl was looking rather uncomfortable, and was staring at Hermione and Ted as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. “You must be Narcissa?”

“Yes,” she said stiffly. “And you must be Bella’s friend Hermione.”

“Don’t mind her. We didn’t tell her about you or Ted because she’s horrid at keeping secrets, so it was- a bit of a shock to suddenly be led to a compartment full of Hufflepuffs.”

“We’re not Hufflepuffs!” Colin protested, puffing out his chest. “We’re Gryffindors!”

“Well, seeing as that’s worse, I was trying to spare your pride,” Bella teased. 

“Well, excuse you,” Hermione said, nudging her arm. “Gryffindor is obviously the superior house.”

“Ha!”

“Hufflepuff is obviously better!”

“Do stop deluding yourself, Tonks.”

“Bella, be nice.”

“Hermione!” She turned to find Ernie MacMillan at the door. “Hey, you lot, sorry, we had to do Prefect duty- an important job, you know!” Bella fake-gagged behind his back, and Hermione stifled a giggle.

“It’s good to see you, Ernie.”

“You as well. Exploding Snap, anyone?”

Hermione ended up joining them, though she opted out of the game in favor of catching up with Bella and trying to get to know Narcissa. This was a rather difficult task, as Narcissa was about as approachable as a brick wall.

“Hey, ‘Mione. Ron and Harry are looking for you- I figured you might be here.” Ginny Weasley came into the compartment. Ginny was one of the few people who knew of her friendship with Bella- therefore, she had been subjected to angst-filled evenings in the library the past year when the two of them hadn’t been talking.

Hermione sighed. “I should go. Nice talking to you all- and nice to meet you, Narcissa.” She got a haughty sniff in return. “See you later, Bella.”

“I’ve never understood why you’ve never told Harry and Ron,” said Ginny as they made their way through the train. 

“You know they hate her, right?”

“Hasn’t she saved their lives like a million times?”

“Well, yes.”

“And didn’t she help clear Sirius’s name? She’s really the reason Harry is able to stay with his godfather part time without worrying about him being tossed in Azkaban.”

“Well, yes, but-”

“And even if she hadn’t done all of that, she’s your friend.”

“Yes, she is. But you know how they can be, it would be like being friends with Malfoy at this point. And besides, it’s really starting to be entertaining, seeing how long we can go without them figuring it out.”

“Basically you two just want to be able to make out all over the place without the boys knowing?”

“Ye- wait, what?! Who said anything about making out?”

“Oh, you two were practically on top of each other when I came in there.”

“It was a crowded compartment!”

“Right. So Bellatrix was just mad for no reason when you went with Krum to the Yule ball?”

“Well, I- ok, sure, she was jealous-”

“And did you not hex Rabastan Lestrange after you found out he was her date?”

“He was being a jerk!”

“Malfoy’s a jerk all the time, you’ve never hexed him.”

“I- I just- ok, fine. I was jealous. But that doesn’t mean we want to make out!”

“Doesn’t it, though?”

“Oh, shove off, Ginny.”

Hermione slid into her friends’ compartment, occupied by Harry, Ron, Neville, and who she thought was Luna Lovegood, a girl in Ginny’s year. “‘Mione, where have you been?”

“I went to visit a couple friends,” she answered, settling into her seat.

“Who?” Ron demanded.

“Ernie MacMillan, couple of Hufflepuffs.”

Ginny snickered from next to her. Harry frowned. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why? I just went to go see them for a while.”

Harry and Ron, obviously not wanting to question her too much, looked at each other and shrugged. “Malfoy came by earlier. His younger brother was with him, he’s like a mini clone. Threatened us a bit with his new Prefect abilities.”

“Lovely. I can’t believe him and Parkinson got made Prefects.”

“She’s better than Black,” Neville growled, and Hermione was reminded of the possibility that Neville knew about her father’s role in his parent’s torture.

Of course, Harry and Ron had to agree with him. “Exactly, mate,” Harry said as Ron nodded. “She’s a right piece of work.” Hermione gave Ginny a significant look that said, ‘I told you so.’

“She’s got a lot of Wrackspurts,” Luna Lovegood said dreamily. She turned her wide eyes on Hermione. “I see her a lot when she’s in the library, you know.”

Hermione tried her best to ignore Ginny’s barely restrained laughter. It made her- uncomfortable to remember that there were plenty of students that frequented the library that could easily spill to Harry and Ron. “And what, exactly, is a wrackspurt?”

“They’re invisible creatures that float in your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. Usually when someone has something on their mind, or if they’re in love.”

At this, Ginny burst into hysterical laughter. Hermione felt her face burning red.

“Are you saying Black is in love?” Harry asked in disbelief. “She doesn’t seem like the type to get a crush on someone.”

“Maybe it’s Rabastan,” Ron suggested. Ginny had to clutch Hermione’s arm for support.

“Maybe she’s got a secret lover,” Luna said, staring straight at Hermione. 

“Who would it be, though? She’d never fall in love with a muggleborn-”

Ginny completely lost it at this, falling to the floor and gasping for breath. “You alright, Ginny?” 

Ginny took a moment to compose herself. “Fine, fine. You’re right, by the way- Black would probably  _ never _ fall in love with someone muggleborn.” Luna giggled a bit, and Hermione went even redder. “In fact, she’s probably never even talked to one.” Even Hermione had to snort at that.

“What’s so funny?” Neville asked, looking between them in confusion. 

“Nothing, Neville,” Hermione sighed, shaking her head at Ginny, who was still chortling. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to read.”

Taking out a large book, she settled into her seat and opened to a random page, trying to ignore the burning in her face.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix climbed into her carriage with great reluctance. Unlike Andy, who made it clear that she did not want anything to do with anyone Slytherin, she had to keep up appearances, so she separated from her group and went to sit with Parkinson and the rest of the girls in her dorm. She still didn’t like most of them, although Parkinson was bearable when she wanted to be, and she didn’t want to throttle Greengrass quite as much as before. Merlin, she was going soft.

She tried her best to ignore the endless gossip, opting instead to locate Hermione’s carriage. Her mane of bushy hair was visible from where she was sat, near Potter, Weasley, Weaslette, Longbottom, and Lovegood. Bellatrix had never talked to Luna Lovegood, but had taken to locating her hidden belongings and returning them when no one was looking, though she suspected the girl knew exactly what she had been doing for her.

When they made it up to the school, the sorting hat went on some long tangent about inter house unity and the dangers of division. The Gryffindors glared at her table at this, which was a great way to cement the fact that “inter house unity” wouldn’t be happening any time soon. Then a horrible looking woman dressed almost completely in pink got up and gave the most boring speech Bellatrix had heard in her life. Looking around the hall, the only person paying attention was Hermione, meaning that there was probably some sort of hidden meaning in it that only she could hear. Bellatrix usually left that sort of thing up to her, especially when it meant listening to boring people talk. Hermione was the one who thought on a larger scale, coming up with long winded plans with a hundred steps, while Bellatrix was the one that thought of smaller but brilliant schemes, such as teaching Potter mermish (and having him insult himself in the process).

When she was done, there was half-hearted applause, though Bellatrix could tell almost no one in the hall had any idea what had just happened. Parkinson had started sleeping on her shoulder, and jerked awake at the sound of the Headmaster dismissing them, bashing her head on Bellatrix’s chin as she did so.

Oh, the things she had to put up with.

Those things got worse over the next few weeks. Potter almost immediately got detention in the toad’s class, and Hermione told her a few weeks later that she was using a blood quill. Bellatrix was outraged, which was completely ridiculous because she didn’t care about Potter (although there must’ve been some instinct to keep him safe after 4 years of running after him and cleaning up his messes). She still suggested using some essence of Murtlap to help with the pain (something she used a disturbing amount of, but no matter).

They ran into a minor obstacle as the first Hogsmeade weekend drew closer. Hermione had been detailing her plans to start up a student led defense group (an idea Bellatrix wholeheartedly supported) when someone gasped rather loudly.

“Bellatrix? What are you doing with  _ her _ ?”

Bellatrix felt a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach. “Parkinson.”

“ _ Shit _ ,” Hermione cursed, glaring at the girl that had stormed over to their table. “What is it, Parkinson?”

“What are  _ you _ doing sitting with Bellatrix?”

“Studying,” Hermione said, forcefully flipping a page in her book.

Likely sensing that Hermione would not be giving answers any time soon, Parkinson turned on Bellatrix. “Would you like to explain yourself?”

“There are very few people in this school with enough intellect to keep up with me. H- Granger is one of those people. So we meet up in the library for some intelligent conversation, something we are both severely lacking.”

There. She had managed to insult the entire school, plus specifically Hermione’s friends and her own. Her favorite pastime.

“You almost called her Hermione. You don’t even call me by my first name!”

Shit. She had worried she would catch onto that.

She and Hermione exchanged a weary glance. “Fine. We’ve been doing this since first year, with a few- rough periods. I help her keep her friends alive, she provides me with an interesting conversation and a hard mystery to solve every once in a while.”

Parkinson narrowed her eyes. “So that’s why you threw yourself off a staircase!”

“I’m still mad about that,” Hermione said, glaring at Bellatrix, who was finding this very unfair.

“I know, right? She’s completely reckless!”

“Guys, the last thing I need is you two teaming up on me. Look, Parkinson, could you just- not tell anyone about this?”

“How has no one found out?”

“People have,” Hermione shrugged. “But most Gryffindors and Slytherins avoid the library like the plague, so we’ve never really had to deal with people from our own houses before.”

“Except for Weaslette.”

“Her name is Ginny, Bella.”

“Wait, really?” She had legitimately forgotten that.

“You let her call you Bella?” Parkinson hissed. “Most people in Slytherin can’t even call you Bellatrix!”

“Like I said, we’re friends.”

Parkinson considered them for a moment, still scowling a bit. “Fine. Just- Bellatrix, do spend more time in the Common Room, will you? The only reason I came by here is because your youngest sister doesn’t have anyone to talk to.”

“She can bloody well come to the library herself, she’s just too bloody proud to spend time with me,” Bellatrix grumbled. It was true- Cissy did not want to admit that she had next to no friends in Slytherin, and so continued on as if she did not need either of her sisters for company. “Well, if you don’t have anything else to say….” She trailed off, looking pointedly at Parkinson, who rolled her eyes but left the room.

“Well, that went well.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bella, much to Hermione’s dismay, did not sign up for the defense group. She understood why- if they were found out, her father would probably kill her. Still, Bella was much smarter and much better than Harry (though she would never tell him that), and would have been a good addition.

So many people had showed up that Harry had been a bit overwhelmed- still, they carried on, and resolved to find a good place to meet.

Of course, it was Bella who had the idea- sort of, at least. She dragged Hermione down to the kitchens one day (after curfew, mind you) to see if the elves knew anything- she figured that if anyone knew the castle better than the Marauders, it was the elves.

And she was right, because Bella often was (in matters of importance, at least), and a quick run up to the seventh floor later, they had found the Room of Requirement.

She alerted Harry the next day, lying and saying she had found mention of it in Hogwarts, A History. This was a relatively safe lie, as there was absolutely no chance of Harry or Ron ever reading Hogwarts, A History.

They started up weekly meetings, and for the most part, they were a success. Andy had demanded a spot in the club, as the majority of her friends had joined, and Harry had been forced to relent after she performed a perfect stupefy and knocked out Cho Chang, after making her promise not to tell her sister (something that caused Ginny and Hermione to start laughing hysterically).

Harry got banned from Quidditch soon after, only to be cheered up by the news that Hagrid was back. When Hermione relayed the story to Bellatrix, they spent hours speculating on where he had gotten all of his wounds. Hermione made sure to not linger on this subject too long, however- whenever Bellatrix started coming up with conspiracy theories about professors, they tended to end in them being vampires (a theory Bella was still pursuing, albeit with less fervor than in her younger years). 

After running into Parkinson in the library, the two of them had decided they needed to find a new place to meet up. They had taken a particular liking to the room of requirement- it could be, after all, whatever they wanted it to be. Now they had a study area not dissimilar to a common room, with a very comfortable couch that they could curl up on. More than once, they had fallen asleep on it, which Hermione resolved to never tell Ginny, as the younger girl would likely tease her about her new habits. 

It was a great shock to Hermione when Mr. Weasley was injured, and she made her way to Grimmauld Place as soon as possible. 

On a visit to St. Mungo’s, they had the unfortunate pleasure of running into Neville and his grandmother visiting Alice and Frank Longbottom.

“Neville? What are you doing here?” Honestly, Ron had no tact. He knew his parents had been driven to insanity! Why did he have to draw attention to the fact that Neville was there?

Hermione had tried to suppress her scowl when Mrs. Longbottom told them about Neville’s parents. Not because she mentioned Cygnus Black’s involvement in it- after all, she was in no hurry to defend that man, and she didn’t think Bella was either. No- after they heard this (despite having heard it once before), they joined in with Neville’s bashing of Bellatrix and, to a lesser extent, her sisters. At this, Hermione had to step in.

“I’ve never had a problem with Andromeda or Narcissa.”

“Well, yeah, but look who they’re related to!”

“They’re related to Sirius, you know! And you’ve met Andromeda, she’s perfectly nice. She’s in the DA!”

Neville shrugged. “It’s Bellatrix I have the most problems with. Hermione, there’s no way you can defend her- she’s called you a mudblood who knows how many times!”

Well, that wasn’t technically false. Still, Hermione couldn’t bring herself to respond, especially when she remembered Bella’s panicked expression when she learned what her father had done.

They finally left, and when they got back to Grimmauld Place, Hermione immediately went up to her room and found her book. Flipping through pages and pages of correspondence between her and Bella, she got to the last bit of writing, only to find something already written there, only 5 minutes ago.

_ Leakey Cauldron. Now. -Bella _

Cursing under her breath (a habit she had unfortunately picked up from Bella), she leapt off of her bed, grabbed a few things, and called out to Ginny to cover for her. She dashed to the street and threw out her wand hand, calling the Knight Bus, which came barreling around the corner.

She scrambled onto the bus, threw down a galleon, and said, “Leakey Cauldron. Make it fast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D hope you enjoyed!


	15. Part 5: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own harry potter

**Part 5: Chapter 2**

Bellatrix didn’t know how long she’d been at the Leakey Cauldron. All she knew was that she needed to see Hermione, so she’d floo’d to the popular bar as quickly as possible after-

“Bella!”

Next thing she knew, she was being engulfed in a hug by a person who smelled so distinctly Hermione (parchment and ink, with a little bit of lavender thrown in). “What happened? Are you alright?”

Bellatrix shook her head, face still burrowed in Hermione’s shirt. “Are you hurt?”

Gulping back a sob, Bellatrix nodded. She felt herself being led towards the toilets, and heard Hermione snap at a young couple to get out. 

Bellatrix let herself be sat down near the sink, still shaking from her recent encounter. She was vaguely aware of Hermione running diagnostic spells on her, but couldn’t bring herself to pay attention to what she was doing.

She knew on a logical level that she should not have been surprised at the events of that day. Her father, after all, had been a death eater, and a devoted one at that, so she should have expected to have to meet the Dark Lord at some point, she just hadn’t thought it would be so soon. But, nevertheless, her father had dragged her to Malfoy Manor, and introduced her to Voldemort, who she  _ knew _ handed out Crucio’s like presents on Christmas day, but she somehow hadn’t been prepared to be hit with nearly twenty of them throughout the course of the meeting, leaving her a shaking mess on the floor- something that didn’t normally happen, because her father never usually did more than 5, but he still expected her to retain her composure, and he didn’t like to be disappointed, so  _ of course _ he hadn’t been able to leave her alone when they got home, instead deciding to beat the living daylights out of her, and oh, Merlin, she was rambling in her thoughts again, something that had started happening less and less over the years, though if it was Hermione’s influence or simply age she couldn’t tell- and who was calling her name?

“Bella!”

She startled out of her thoughts and dragged her eyes up to meet Hermione’s. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Bellatrix thought her head might fall off from shaking it so hard. She hadn’t been this shaken in  _ years _ , back when Rodolphus was still at Hogwarts and Hermione had still been  _ Granger _ and there hadn’t been anyone for her to talk to,  _ ever _ .

“That’s okay. Do you want me to take you back to headquarters for the night?” This she readily agreed to- she knew she would have to go back eventually, but as her father had gone back to Malfoy Manor and her mother couldn’t care less about her children, her sisters would be safe for tonight.

“Alright. Here, read this, memorize it-” she showed her a slip of paper with an address written down on it- “and we can go floo there, come on.”

Before she knew it, she was stepping into a fireplace and calling out the name Hermione had given her. She spun around in the green flames before emerging in an empty drawing room. Hermione led her upstairs, going as quietly as she could, and slid into a room devoid of people except for Weaslette.

“Hey- Bellatrix? What are you doing here?”

“Shh!” Bellatrix was laid down on a nearby bed, and Hermione had a hushed conversation with Weaslette before coming to sit on the bed. “Hey. Bella? You in there?”

She was not. This was a rare occurrence nowadays- the times when she would simply not be able to respond in any way, and they had always happened at home. Hermione sighed when an answer was not forthcoming. “Alright. Try to sleep, alright?”

That sounded good to Bellatrix. With one last look at Hermione, she let her eyes slip closed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think happened?”

Hermione sunk into Ginny’s bed. “No idea. She was pretty beat up, though. If I could bet, I’d say it was her father.”

Ginny swore and brushed her hair out of her face. “Well, we can keep her here for tonight, but….”

“We can’t hide the daughter of a Death Eater in our room for more than that,” Hermione finished. “Could you bring up some food? I think I’m going to stay up here.”

Ginny looked like she was about to protest, but took another look at Hermione’s face, nodded, and left the room.

Hermione supposed she looked pretty shaken- she had never seen Bella like this, and it scared her more than she liked to admit. Bella was always energetic (to the point of being annoying) and the only times she let herself relax were in those stolen moments in the Room of Requirement. 

She sat in thought for a while- Ginny came and went with dinner- and when Ginny came in to go to bed was the first time she got up, only to lay down next to Bella (trying her best to ignore the smirk Ginny gave her).

It seemed like she had just closed her eyes when Ginny was shaking her awake. Mr. Weasley was coming back today- thankfully later in the afternoon, so they had time to get Bella out of the house. Bella was still sleeping- Hermione had never noticed the shadows under her eyes before, and wondered if she wore glamours or if Hermione had simply never looked close enough.

Ginny got her down to breakfast, where only Remus and Sirius were awake. This turned out to be a blessing- a few minutes later, a sleepy looking Bellatrix had stumbled downstairs, asking for breakfast.

“Who is  _ that _ ?” Remus asked, looking in alarm at this apparent intruder.

Ginny shrugged indifferently. “Oh, that’s just Bellatrix.”

Sirius frowned. “Why is she here?”

“None of your business,” Bella snapped, in a much more hostile tone than Hermione would have liked. Bellatrix was very determinedly stacking her plate with food, and avoiding Hermione’s eyes, and Hermione decided then and there that she would not press her for information- Bella looked like she might shatter if she had to talk about what happened in her house beyond short comments and bitter jokes.

“How did she get in here?”

“I gave her the address.”

“Without permission? Hermione, you know you can’t-”

“Dumbledore trusts me.” 

“Why would Dumbledore trust you?” Sirius asked. 

“Oh, she’s just saved Harry’s life about a dozen times,” Ginny grinned. “Little things like that.”

Seeing their confused looks, Hermione said, “Remember that time I said I set a trap for Pettigrew?”

“Yeah.”

“I was that trap.” Bellatrix grinned (Hermione didn’t think she’d ever been that relieved to see her smile) at Sirius’s astonished look. 

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“We didn’t want Potter and Weasley to know.”

Remus frowned. “But why-”

“They think it’s hilarious to see how far they can take it before they realize Hermione’s been getting help all those years.”

“It’s getting pretty sad, actually,” Hermione mused. “But, Bella, we need to get you out of here before the others wake up.”

Bellatrix scowled. “Fine. But I’m eating breakfast first. Sirius, pass me some of that toast, will you?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix had an awful holiday from there. While she was able to avoid her father (for the most part, at least), she was still getting pushed into spending time with  _ Rodolphus _ , though she often went back and forth on which one she liked least.

Despite this, for the first time, she found herself a bit nervous about going back to Hogwarts- more specifically, seeing Hermione, something she didn’t think she had ever been nervous about, even when they were fighting. 

Still, a little bit of nerves were nothing compared to having to be at home for any length of time, so she gladly boarded the train and went to find Andy’s friends. 

As usual, she sat in the corner of the compartment and read- sure, she could tolerate (barely) the people Andy liked hanging out with, but that didn’t mean she had to talk to them.

Hermione, thankfully, offered no comment on their  _ unfortunate _ meetup over the holidays. Instead, she filled her in on Mr. Weasley’s condition, as well as the things they had overheard at St. Mungo’s. Bellatrix thought the part about Snape teaching Occlumency was the most interesting, however, though Hermione just rolled her eyes when she asked if vampires had mind powers (as she had yet to be convinced that Bellatrx was obviously right).

“You know, Harry’s asked Cho Chang to go to Hogsmeade with him,” Hermione said one night. “For the Valentine’s day trip.”

Bellatrix blushed- she had seen the trip posted on a notice board last week, and had spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about how she might ask Hermione, in a different world. “Good for him.”

“And I’m going to meet up with him in the Three Broomsticks- Skeeter’ll be there as well, with Luna. We’re going to try to get his actual story in the Quibbler.”

“The  _ Quibbler _ ?! No one’ll believe him!”

“Worth a try, isn’t it? But anyway, I won’t be meeting him until around 12, so I’ll be completely free until then. He’ll be at Madam Puddifoots, and Ron has Quidditch practice.”

Bellatrix was very confused. It seemed like Hermione was hinting at something, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was.

They sat in silence for another half hour before Hermione huffed and said she was off to bed. “I’ll come too, I’m starting to get rather tired,” Bellatrix said, gathering her stuff and following Hermione out of the room.

Still a bit puzzled about Hermione’s behavior, they made it all the way to the Great Hall (a common enough intersection between the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms), where there was a notice advertising the Hogsmeade weekend, before she realized what she was on about.

She panicked for a second as Hermione began walking away. “Hermione!”

She turned around. “Yes?”

“Er- well, I just- er- the Hogsmeade weekend. Would you- I, I mean, would you like to- to go? With me?”

Thank Merlin no one was around to hear  _ that _ .

Hermione was silent for a moment, and Bellatrix thought that perhaps she had misinterpreted that whole situation, and now Hermione wouldn’t want to talk to her anymore, and things would be all awkward and she’d have to hang out with  _ Parkinson _ ….

“I’d love to. Three Broomsticks at 9?”

“Huh? Oh! Really? Great! Yeah, sure, that’s- that’s great, really, I, uh- night!”

Well, Bellatrix thought as she practically skipped down to the dungeons, it could’ve gone worse.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Will you stop worrying? You look great!” 

Hermione groaned and threw herself onto her bed. It was Friday evening, and she had accidentally let slip that she would be accompanying Bellatrix to Hogsmeade, and now Ginny was assisting her in finding a suitable outfit.

She had been a bit worried, at first, that they would run into someone like Neville Longbottom and he would flip out. But Ginny assured her that no one would take notice of them if they chose a nice, secluded corner- and besides, half the school knew anyway (Hermione nearly had a heart attack at this statement), because apparently Hufflepuffs knew everything about everyone and Ravenclaws spent nearly as much time in the library as Hermione and Bellatrix did. 

Once those fears had been assuaged, she could spend time worrying about the date itself.

Ginny had done a fine job of making sure she got a good wardrobe. But that wasn’t really what Hermione was concerned about- what should they talk about? Would they be expected to hold hands? Or kiss? She knew she would very much like to kiss Bella (though she wasn’t quite sure when  _ that  _ development had come about), but would Bella want to kiss her? Well, Ginny had said, all of the Hufflepuffs think so, and most of the Ravenclaws do as well. Hermione was slightly concerned at the fact that people were gossipping about her private life, but Ginny assured her that Hufflepuffs gossipped about everything, and they had had too many arguments in the library for the Ravenclaws to not be invested in the relationship.

Oh, joy.

It was too late to reconsider anything now- she was sitting in the most private booth she could find, and was staring dejectedly at the butterbeer in front of her.

Bellatrix was  _ late _ , and Hermione was starting to get very worried, because Hermione was nothing if not punctual and it was now 9:02.

“Hey! Sorry, Parkinson was holding me up.”

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled at Bella. She was dressed in her usual black robes, though Hermione noticed that there were hints of red along the seams. Ginny made a good choice, it seemed, when she told Hermione to wear a bit of green.

“No problem. Here, I got you a butterbeer.” 

“Thanks.”

They sat in very awkward silence for a moment before launching into conversation about god knows what- the only thing Hermione could really concentrate on was that Bellatrix’s hand was sitting out on the table, waiting for Hermione to reach out and grab it. 

She did not, however, until about an hour later, when Bellatrix smirked at her and said, in true Bellatrix fashion, “So, Hermione, are you just going to keep staring at my hand or would you like to hold it?”

Blushing furiously, Hermione reached across the table to hold her hand, ignoring the triumphant grin Bellatrix was sending her way.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix couldn’t believe it. She was on a  _ date _ , which she hadn’t thought would ever happen, because in a pureblood world one got an arranged marriage, and then you were pushed into random situations with your intended, and it was certainly never anything like  _ this _ . She knew for a fact that she had never just sat and talked with Rodolphus, holding hands (which had  _ finally _ happened after an hour of keeping her hand on the table) and enjoying themselves. They had launched into a tirade about Umbridge and how much she sucked (a long conversation, as she sucked quite a lot), and had been talking so animatedly that they hadn’t even realized that it was almost noon.

“Shit! We should probably- I mean, I need to-  _ fuck _ -” Hermione, in her haste to get up, had spilled butterbeer all over the table.

“Scourgify.” Bellatrix waved her wand and it disappeared as she stood up. She was still quite a bit shorter than Hermione, a fact that peeved her to no end even after all of these years. 

Bellatrix swallowed, suddenly nervous and keenly aware that they were standing far closer than they really needed to be, and not really minding that at all. “This was nice.”

Hermione nodded. “It was.”

They stood there for a minute, not really sure what to do. And then, Bellatrix and Hermione both moved at the same time, and she was not sure, really, who had started it, but suddenly Hermione’s lips were brushing up against hers, hesitantly, not sure if she should press forward.

Well, Bellatrix thought, I can certainly remedy that. And she closed the small distance between them and then they were kissing (a bit sloppily at first), and in that moment, Bellatrix felt as if she could produce the world’s best patronus.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cho Chang was not stupid.

Of course she wasn’t- she was in Ravenclaw, after all, and she could tell that despite his blustering and general obliviousness, Harry was genuinely happy to be there, with her, on the Valentine’s day trip to Hogsmeade.

So she was a bit confused for a moment when he told her he was  _ also _ meeting up with Hermione Granger.

I mean, if you’re going to make more than one date, why mention one of them to another? Was Harry really that stupid?

But, no. That didn’t make any sense, for several reasons.

One of them was that Harry, while being somewhat of an inexperienced idiot, would have to be absolutely cruel to so blatantly tell her that he was meeting up with another girl, unless that meet up was completely platonic.

Another was that Harry had been quite obviously mooning after her for nearly two years now, while he had never shown any sort of affection for Hermione Granger, ever.

But she would not have thought of those two things if it weren’t for the last reason: Bellatrix Black.

Because being in Ravenclaw meant that not only was she not stupid, but that she spent an unholy amount of time in the library. And the gossip in the library nowadays was the fact that Hermione Granger had taken a certain  _ interest _ in Black in the last year or two.

So, obviously, the girl wouldn’t go inviting Harry to the Three Broomsticks for anything even remotely resembling a date, because she had heard from Marietta who had heard from Terry Boot who had heard from Ginny Weasley that Hermione already  _ had _ a date, and everyone knew that Bellatrix Black would not stand for having to step aside for someone like Harry Potter.

And so Cho found herself being led to the Three Broomsticks by Harry, who seemed more than relieved that her original outrage at his little rendez-vous with Granger had dissipated. Of course, she still had questions- he had made it seem rather important that he be there, but had no idea why.

Cho reflected that Granger was lucky her friends were so oblivious, as Harry didn’t even bat an eye when she came stumbling out of a back room a minute late, hair even messier than usual, and with a faint blush creeping up her neck- nor did he notice when Bellatrix Black emerged from the same room a few minutes later, looking redder than a Weasley.

  
Well, this would certainly make for some  _ interesting _ gossip later.


	16. Part 5: Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't own harry potter

**Part 5: Chapter 3**

At the next DA session, half of the students immediately burst into giggles when Hermione walked into the room. She frowned, thinking that she probably had something on her face, and went to go help Harry set up for the next lesson. He had already told her all about his date with Cho, who was giggling with Marietta near the side of the room. She was not the only one confused- Neville was glancing around the room with an incredulous expression, and Dean Thomas was scratching his head while Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black laughed hysterically in the corner.

“What’s everyone laughing about?” Harry asked, frowning at the people around the room. 

“No idea,” she sighed. “Have you-”

“Hermione Jean Granger! Get over here right now!”

Very confused, Hermione walked over to where Ginny was standing with Luna Lovegood. “Why didn’t you tell me you kissed her?”

“How did you-”

“Never mind that! How could you not tell me?”

“Ginny, that was  _ yesterday _ . You got back from practice late, I was going to tell you later. How did you know?”

“Luna told me.”

“How did  _ Luna _ know?”

“Oh, right, you’re unaware of the gossip chain. Well, Luna overheard some girls in her dorm talking about how they had heard from Colin Creevey who had heard from Ted Tonks, who heard from Ernie MacMillan who heard from Terry Boot who heard from Marietta Edgecombe who heard it from Cho Chang that you and Bellatrix came out of a nice little secluded booth in the Three Broomsticks looking  _ very _ disheveled.”

Hermione gaped at her, then glanced around the room with a new understanding. Most of the people giggling were either Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs, with the exception of Andy and the Creevey brothers, and all of them had some sort of relation to the people listed in Ginny’s ‘gossip chain.’

“So you’re saying that everyone and their mothers know about that date.”

“Well, yeah, no shit everyone knew about the date, it was the worst kept secret in the school. But you  _ neglected _ to mention that you would be  _ making out _ with her-”

“We did not  _ make out _ ,” Hermione hissed. “We- lightly snogged.”

Ginny snorted. “Lightly snogged. Okay, ‘Mione. Well, anyway, I had to check with the original source, and Cho confirmed it so now we’re here and I’m confronting you about it because how could you not tell me the minute I got back?”

Hermione sighed. “I didn’t have the time. I’ll tell you more later?”

Ginny huffed. Hermione decided to take this as a yes, and went to help Harry, trying her best to ignore the incessant giggling surrounding her.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s happened!”

Severus Snape groaned as Pomona burst into the staff lounge. This was one of the rare occasions where the frilly pink toad was  _ not _ in the room, and he had been enjoying some nice peace and quiet while grading his student’s abysmal papers.

“What’s happened, Pomona?” asked Poppy.

“They’ve kissed!”

This, of course, caught everyone’s attention. After all, most teachers had substantial amounts of money depending on certain student’s relationships.

“Who?”

“When?”

“Where?”

“Calm down, and I’ll tell you!” laughed Pomona. They all shut up (a rare occurrence) and looked at her expectantly. “I’ve just had a nice conversation with some of my students- Ted Tonks, to be exact. He says he heard from the gossip chain that Cho Chang saw two people looking rather  _ flustered _ coming out of a private booth in the Three Broomsticks on Valentine’s day.”

“Who was it?” Minerva demanded.

“Black and Granger.”

Severus leapt to his feet. “Ha! Filius, Septima, Poppy- you  _ all _ owe me 5 galleons! Pay up!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was having a great week.

She had been worried about how to act around Hermione after Hogsmeade. That had quickly been solved when Hermione joined her in the library with a quick peck on the lips- she had wondered why she would be so bold as to do it in front of the numerous people in the library, but then everyone just giggled, and she remembered that Andy had seemed to know what had happened before she even got the chance to tell her.

Stupid Hufflepuffs, always spreading rumors.

They were, of course, unable to display any affection in public, but that was also easily remedied. Hermione was, after all, a prefect, and therefore had every reason to be wandering around the halls at night. As for Bellatrix- well, she didn’t need an excuse, as she was not likely to get caught, and so they were able to meet up in empty classrooms or hidden corridors late at night.

They did not only use these meet ups for snogging, although that activity had seen a rapid increase in recent days. They also used them to discuss certain things, such as Snape’s supposed evilness.

“I’m telling you, he’s up to something! He was actually smiling during class today.  _ Smiling _ . He’s Snape! He doesn’t smile! And I could hear his pocket jingling- maybe he killed someone and stole their money! Maybe he sucked their blood out!”

“Bella, for the last bloody time, Snape’s not a vampire! And I’m sure he’s not plotting anything- maybe he won a bet!”

“Don’t be silly, Hermione. What could have possibly happened that Snape would bet on?”

Needless to say, they did not always agree on the issues involving one Severus Snape.

A horrible shock came one day, when suddenly there were rumors flying around the school that Umbridge was now Headmistress, and Dumbledore had hexed the Minister plus a couple of Aurors and escaped. Bellatrix had been roped into joining the Inquisitorial Squad, something that only made people hate her more.

“MacMillan! 5 points from Hufflepuff for, well, being a Hufflepuff!” Draco sneered as they walked by.

“Malfoy,” Ernie said pompously, “you, know, it’s rather funny watching you run around like a pampered prat-”

“You  _ dare _ -”

“Even funnier when one realizes that, really, you’ve always been one-”

“50 points from Hufflepuff!”

“Oh, no, so scary. Malfoy, you’ve abused that power so much that it doesn’t even matter anymore.”

“100 points!”

As Draco and the rest of his gang stalked away, Bellatrix nudged MacMillan. “Hey. You know, that was a terribly mean thing you’ve said to Draco. I think I should give Hufflepuff 200 points for that, don’t you?”

MacMillan grinned. “Thanks, Bellatrix.”

“Just because I’m being nice doesn’t mean we’re friends. That’s Black to you.”

“Sure thing, Black.”

Well, she supposed, it only made  _ some  _ people hate her more.

The next few months were an absolute wreck- in between fighting against Umbridge while simultaneously pretending to work with Umbridge, she still had to find the time to study for her O.W.L.’s, which were drawing closer by the day.

She knew she would do wonderfully- she was, after all, an excellent student, second only to Hermione, and even that was a narrow margin. She was sure she would be able to beat her in a few classes at least.

That said, she was completely exhausted by the time exams rolled around, and even more so when they were finished. Those tests were  _ hard _ , and she cursed whoever came up with this horrible idea to torture students.

The only interesting thing about it all was when they’d taken their Astronomy exam, and Hagrid had gotten attacked, and McGonagall had gotten nearly 5 stunners thrown at her. Hermione was especially worried about this- she was close with both teachers, after all, and both were nowhere to be seen.

And then, of course, Potter had gone and passed out in the middle of their last exam, and before she knew it the Inquisitorial Squad was being called in to grab him and his friends for trying to break into Umbridge’s office, like a bunch of bloody idiots.

She had managed to grab Hermione, and was not so much restraining her as she was embracing, something that Weaslette noticed with great amounts of glee. Snape had been called in, and Potter yelled something about Padfoot before he left. When Hermione supposedly broke down and started babbling about how, “You have to tell her, Harry!”, she could only watch as she led Umbridge down and out of the office.

Waiting for something to happen had never been Bellatrix’s forte, so after a minute or two she excused herself and ran out of the office with the intent of finding Snape. He was in his office, and looked especially pleased to see her.

“Ms. Black! I need you to go to Grimmauld Place and alert the Order that Potter has had a vision about Sirius Black in the Department of Mysteries. Tell them to meet up where it’s hidden as soon as possible. And keep Black in the house. Now!”

Startled, Bellatrix ran all the way back to Umbridge’s office (which had the only working Floo Network), which she found empty except for her unconscious classmates spread across the floor, clearly having been hit with an expert Bat-Bogey Hex (she suspected that this was Weaslette’s doing). She grabbed some Floo Powder, stepped into the fire, and said, “Number 12, Grimmauld Place!” And with a flash of green flame, she was gone.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ This is crazy _ , Hermione thought as she flew on a completely invisible creature,  _ absolutely insane. _ She understood Harry’s need to go and rescue Sirius- but they could have made sure, they could have really had solid proof that Sirius was gone besides the word of an old elf that hated him anyway.

But, no, Harry, being the reckless idiot he was (though she loved him dearly) had immediately jumped on a thestral and had them all fly to the Ministry of Magic. Of course, she never would’ve not gone with him- she would always go with him on his insane adventures, if only to keep him alive. She could only hope that Bella would find some way to save their arses, because it was very likely to turn into a trap.

Sure enough, when they got to the department of mysteries, Sirius wasn’t there. To be fair, Hermione hadn’t even thought of the possibility that Sirius wouldn’t even be there- but there was no time to dwell on that, because they were now surrounded by Death Eaters.

Abraxas Malfoy was taking point, followed closely by Cygnus Black (she resisted the urge to hex him then and there) and a couple more nameless Death Eaters. Evidently, those two were the only ones bold enough to show their faces. Hermione couldn’t help but feel bad for Bella- in this short exchange, Cygnus Black was showing himself to be absolutely terrifying, and she could not imagine living with him.

Harry was whispering something to her- a hasty plan, but a good one nonetheless, and she passed it onto the others. The second he shouted “Now!”, she pointed her wand at a nearby shelf of prophecies, and took off. A death eater grabbed Harry’s arm, and she sent a stunner at him, and she, Harry, and Neville ran off to another room, bolting the door shut behind them.

They hid as they heard several Death Eaters trying to force their way in, and had just gotten under the table when the door flew open. Hermione got a peek at them- the Lestrange Brothers and Cygnus Black. Oh, boy.

Harry, always the one to take action, sent a stunner in their direction, knocking out Rabastan. Rodolphus sent a killing curse back, and a small battle ensued.

Hermione was almost immediately caught up in a duel with Black, which really consisted more of her dodging spells and hiding behind tables than actual dueling. She had no time to think about how Harry and Neville were doing, although she could hear the battles still going on, so they must still be standing. 

But, still, despite all of their practicing and all of their training, Hermione couldn’t help wondering how they were going to get out of this.

And then a savior came in the form of Alastor Moody, throwing open a door and entering the fray.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sirius! I told you, you need to stay here!”

“I will not just sit here while my godson is getting attacked-”

“For Merlin’s sake, the rest of the Order is going to help! If the Death Eaters see you, they’ll try to kill you, everyone knows you’re close with Potter!”

“Well, then, they won’t see me!”

“Huh?”

“C’mon!”

Bellatrix tried her best to ignore her oncoming headache as her cousin grabbed some floo powder, stepped into the fireplace, and called out, “Hogwarts!” She waited for a moment, before sighing and following him.

When they came out in Umbridge’s office, Sirius began running to the Gryffindor Common Room. She followed after him, a considerable distance behind (Merlin, why did her legs have to be so  _ short _ ?) and by the time she got there, he was already arguing with the Fat Lady. 

“I don’t have the password! I need to get in there!”

“I can’t let you in, you know that-”

“Pig Snout,” Bellatrix gasped, and the Fat Lady gave her a disapproving look before swinging open to reveal the common room.

There were several people still sitting in the Common Room, and she threw her hood up over her face before anyone could see her. One person did- Colin Creevey, who got up and, after slipping a small sweet into his mouth, made a spectacular show of puking all over the place. She flashed him a thumbs up for the distraction and snuck after Sirius.

It became apparent why Sirius had dragged her halfway across the school when he began shuffling through Potter’s trunk, emerging triumphantly with the invisibility cloak clutched in his hands. 

“This is a horrible idea!”

“No idea is horrible if you try hard enough!”

“Sirius, that’s not how that works-”

“Come on, get under! Unless, of course, you don’t want to go?”

Bellatrix was very tempted to scoff and run back down to the Slytherin Common Room. But then that part of her brain that had made her do stupid things like warn people about trolls and basilisks and Death Eaters disguised as professors kicked in, and before she knew it, she was back in Umbridge’s office and flooing to the Ministry.

“They’re in the department of mysteries!”

“Sirius, slow down!” 

“It’s not my fault you’re so short!”

“Oh, shove off!”

They hurtled down to the elevators, taking a moment to catch their breath as they rode down. They got to the right floor and, after making sure the cloak was secured around them, they stepped out into utter chaos.

The Order of the Phoenix was battling about a dozen Death Eaters alongside members of Dumbledore’s Army. Neville Longbottom was doing an odd sort of jig, Potter was frantically dueling Rodolphus, and Weasley was sitting on the floor and giggling madly.

Sirius tensed as Rodolphus sent a green jet of light dangerously close to Potter’s head. “You little-”

“Stupefy!” Rodolphus never saw it coming- Bellatrix felt immense satisfaction as he crumpled to the ground. Potter stood there for a moment, confused, and then ran off to help Longbottom, who was trying to get away while clutching a silvery orb in his hands.

Her eyes searched the battle for Hermione, but was quickly distracted by a ferocious duel between Remus Lupin and her father. She panicked when he sent the killing curse flying towards his chest, and screamed, “Protego!”

Lupin and her father looked confused for a moment before continuing the battle.

“ _ Get away from Moony-” _

“Sirius, no!” She managed to grab Sirius and keep him from launching himself at Cygnus, who had blasted the ground at Lupin’s feet, causing him to fly backward. He started towards him, and Bellatrix shouted, “ _ Immobulus!” _

Cygnus looked astonished for a split second before freezing. Bellatrix allowed herself a moment to cackle with glee before dragging Sirius over to a safer corner and shooting spells at Death Eaters.

A couple of things happened at once- one, Longbottom was stunned, and dropped the silvery orb, and it smashed on the floor, creating a silvery smoke. Two, Potter got grazed with a slicing hex and yelled out in pain. Three, Dumbledore appeared from the orb. And, finally, Sirius, taking advantage of Bellatrix’s momentary distraction, flung himself out from under the invisibility cloak and started hurling spells at Abraxas Malfoy, who had dared leave a scratch on his godson.

Dumbledore did not pay much attention to this occurrence- instead, he began rounding up the remaining death eaters. In that split second, Cygnus broke free of her spell and rounded on Sirius.

Bellatrix did not know what spell he cast, but she knew that Sirius was standing right next to that creepy looking veil, and did the first thing that came to mind: she leapt forward, invisible, and scooped him up and under the invisibility cloak, dragging him to safety.

Of course, Potter did not know any of this- all he knew was that his godfather had been cursed and had vanished mysteriously a second before falling into the veil. He yelled in outrage and ran at Cygnus, who chose that moment to flee from Dumbledore, who had, in the seconds following Sirius’s fall, apprehended Abraxas. He started rounding up the Death Eaters as Potter chased Cygnus out of the room, and then followed them.

Bellatrix, who was still trying to support Sirius from under the cloak, stumbled, and the cloak fell from her shoulders.

“Sirius!”

“Who is  _ that _ ?”

“Bellatrix,  _ come here, now!” _

Lupin ran forward and grabbed Sirius, lowering him to the ground. Alastor Moody drew his wand and pointed it at her. Ginny ran (more like hobbled) over to her and dragged her towards the side of the room.

“Weaslette, what-” Bellatrix stopped short, and felt her face rapidly paling at the sight of Hermione’s prone form on the ground. “She’s not-”

“We think she’s fine. Dolohov hit her with something, but she’s still breathing-”

She went forward to check, just to make sure, when she was stopped by a wand at her throat. “Weasley, who is this?”

“Bellatrix. Don’t worry, we can trust her, she’s a friend of ours.”

“Merlin’s beard- he’s here! In the ministry! I saw him, Minister-”

“So did I!”

“Get back under the cloak!”

As people began filtering into the room to see what was going on, Bellatrix ducked back under the cloak.

Sirius was immediately given a portkey and transported to St. Mungo’s, while Aurors began inspecting the unconscious Death Eaters. Not sure, exactly, what to do now that the battle was over, and praying that someone would be able to get Hermione out, Bellatrix found the nearest fireplace and floo’d back to school.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione’s first thought when she regained consciousness:  _ ow. _

The second was a bit more comprehensive-  _ what the bloody hell happened? _

She worked her eyes open and got a quick view of the hospital wing before her vision was taken over by a blur of black curls, and she felt lips on hers.

She let Bella kiss her for a bit before breaking free. “Bella, what happened? Where-” She frowned and looked around the room again. It was completely empty. “Bella, what  _ time _ is it?”

Bellatrix scowled. “Doesn’t matter. Do you know how bloody worried I was? I thought you were going to  _ die _ , you bloody  _ idiot- _ ”

Deciding that she would rather be doing their previous activity, she brought Bella’s face in for another kiss, quite effectively cutting her off. 

“So how did you get in here?”

Bella looked sheepish, and tried to hide something behind her back, but Hermione caught a glimpse of it. “Bella is that- is that the invisibility cloak?”

“Possibly.”

“Wha- where did you get that?”

Bellatrix mumbled something under her breath. “Sorry, what?”

“Potter’s trunk.”

“Please tell me you didn’t steal it.”

“I wanted to come see you.”

And just like that, Hermione’s heart melted- Bella looked so  _ tired _ , and Hermione wondered how many nights she had stayed up waiting for her to wake up. 

“How long have I been out?”

Bellatrix swallowed. “A couple days. Dolohov hit you with a curse, would’ve been a lot worse if he hadn’t been silenced, apparently. You’re going to be fine, just- you’ll have a scar.”

Hermione relaxed. That wasn’t too bad- at least she hadn’t been laying in this hospital bed for a week.

“Speaking of which, I should probably let Madam Pomfrey know that you’re up.” Hermione nodded, and Bella went to go wake the Head Nurse up.

“Er- Madam Pomfrey? Hermione’s awake.”

“Ms. Black? How would you know that?”

Silence.

“Please tell me you haven’t been sitting there all night.”

More silence.

“Oh, for goodness sake, go to bed! I’ll see to her.”

Stifling a giggle, Hermione sunk back into the bed (Madam Pompfrey wouldn’t appreciate it if she knew she’d been sitting up) and let her run her examinations.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix visited the hospital wing nearly every night until Hermione was released, despite Hermione’s protests that she should get some sleep. She’d been worried sick that, no matter what Madam Pomfrey said, she wouldn’t wake up, and now that she was awake, she was going to spend every moment she could whenever her friends weren’t there. There had been a small scare when she’d fallen asleep and woken up to Weaslette shaking her awake to get moving before Potter came in, smirking the whole time (damn that girl, really), but other than that, she was out of sight of the various Gryffindors coming and going from the room.

By the time Hermione was let out of the hospital wing, the term was nearly over. They spent a lot of this time snuggled up in the room of requirement with a  _ perfectly healthy _ amount of snogging. She knew the next year would bring its own difficulties, but for now, she was content to cuddle up with her girlfriend and forget about the coming war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part 6 to come soon!


	17. Part 6: Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Year 6!
> 
> I don't own Harry Potter

Part 6: Chapter 1

Hermione was very, very nervous. Harry had said that O.W.L. results were meant to come sometime today- something she had been anticipating since she’d taken the exams.

When Harry had given her this news, she had immediately written to Bella, who had drawn a screaming person in response (Bella had developed a habit of drawing out her responses as opposed to writing them). Now, she was waiting in the kitchen of the Burrow, peering out of the window for any sign of an owl.

Suddenly, she shrieked and jumped to her feet, pointing to where three distinct shapes were drawing nearer to them. Mrs. Weasley got up as well, opening the window to let the owls in.

Hermione looked down at her envelope, feeling a bit faint. What if she failed? What if she had to redo her classes? What if she couldn’t take the N.E.W.T.’s she’d wanted to take? Great, now she was doing her “what if’s” again- something that had diminished greatly over the years, especially when she’d started going out with Bella.

Trembling slightly, she opened her letter, dimly aware that Harry and Ron were exchanging results. All Outstandings, except for an Exceeds Expectations in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“Hermione? What did you get?”

Silently, she handed over her paper, and they marveled over it.

“Blimey, ‘Mione, you’re actually disappointed, aren’t you?”

“I mean, really. You got top of the class in half of these- almost set a record in Transfiguration-”

“How’d she get top in only half of them?” Ron demanded. “I thought she was top of the class?”

“I am,” she said. “Overall, of course- it was probably Bellatrix that beat me in a few of them.”

Harry scowled at the mention of Bellatrix. “Well, good job beating her in some of these. I imagine she’s pretty mad at you for doing that, hopefully she won’t give you a hard time.” Hermione hid a snort at this- she highly doubted Bella would suddenly hate her for beating her in exams, seeing as Bella had spent a large amount of time last year making out with her in various spots around the school. Of course, Harry and Ron didn’t know this, something that Bella (and herself, to be perfectly honest) still found hilarious.

As soon as she could, she rushed up to hers and Ginny’s room and pulled out her book. It was getting to be quite the collection of rushed messages, funny anecdotes, and just regular conversations between her and Bella, and was starting to get rather large (it was enchanted to grow as much as they needed it to.)

**Bella- just got the results- Outstanding in everything but DADA, and that was Exceeds Expectations.**

She did not have to wait long to get a reply- both she and Bella had rigged up a system to let them know when they got a message.

_ Outstanding in everything except Ancient Runes, Potions, and Arithmancy :(((( congrats on getting top of the class! Mother couldn’t care less and father is too busy to be mad about me not being first, but Andy and Cissy are teasing me relentlessly- how did the Dumb Duo do? _

**The Dumb Duo?**

_ Potter and Weasley. Sorry, it’s been quite a while since I’ve used that particular nickname. _

**…**

**Harry got one outstanding in DADA, Acceptable in astronomy and he failed Hist. of magic and Divination, Ron didn’t get any outstandings**

_ And you wonder why i call them the dumb duo _

**Very funny bella. Got to go now- <3**

_ <3- see you at Hogwarts! _

Smiling, Hermione stashed the book away in her trunk, ignoring Ginny’s snickering.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was possibly the best summer Bellatrix had ever had.

Her father was… preoccupied with his Death Eater stuff, busy kissing the robes of a madman. Rodolphus was in Azkaban, and couldn’t bother her. Her more questionable relatives were refusing to see them, which was completely fine by her, because they were crazy. All in all, a relatively good holiday.

Despite this, she was still thrilled to be going back to Hogwarts in the fall. Just because it was lacking in horrible people didn’t mean that Black Manor wasn’t horrible- it was still the cold, unhappy place as always, just without the abusive father and pushy relatives and perverted fiance. Hogwarts was warm, full of people, and, most importantly, it had Hermione. Sure, they talked over the summer, but that wasn’t nearly the same as actually seeing her, hearing her voice- and even worse, she couldn’t sneak out to meet up with her, because her mother  _ never _ left the house nowadays.

Needless to say, Bellatrix was very happy when they all boarded the train on September first and found their usual compartment. Andy immediately went to sit by Ted Tonks (who Bellatrix now regarded with suspicion, as he spent  _ far _ too much time with her sister), while Cissy (reluctantly) went to talk to the Creevey brothers, as Dennis was the closest in age to her. Bellatrix took her usual spot in the corner (they had all long since given up trying to talk to her) and pulled out a book. Ernie MacMillan, who was a prefect, would be joining them in a couple of hours.

In those couple of hours, the small children played several very loud games of Exploding Snap, which Bellatrix did her best to tune out. This was one of the many downsides of sitting with these people- however, Bellatrix would take them over Parkinson and her Slytherin gang any day.

Finally, MacMillan and Hermione walked into the compartment. Bellatrix was on her feet in a second and went to hug Hermione, which quickly turned into a kiss.

“Oooh!” 

“Shut up, Andy!”

“Hermione and Bella, sitting in a tree-”

“Tonks, you call me ‘Bella’ one more time-”

“You know, Black, public displays of affection aren’t allowed at Hogwarts.”

“Bloody good thing we’re not at bloody Hogwarts then.”

They all sat back down, while Bellatrix did her best to ignore the teasing grins her sisters were sending her, and the mischievous look coming from Tonks that she was relatively sure she had taught him. Hermione was only able to stay for half an hour before going back to sit with her other friends (Gryffindors, ew), and so Bellatrix was consigned to spending the rest of the train ride surrounded by bloody Hufflepuffs.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say Hermione was concerned would be an understatement.

Harry had run off to go stalk Draco Malfoy on the train, and now Malfoy was sitting with his friends, looking smug as hell, and Harry wasn’t here.

They got all the way through the sorting before Harry finally walked into the hall, nose bloody, and sat down next to her. He and Ron talked about the sorting hat, muttering darkly about how they would  _ never _ make friends with Slytherins (Ginny gave an undignified snort next to them). Hermione managed to question him about what he’d been up to in between him and Ron shoveling food in their mouths, and he immediately launched into a tirade about Malfoy and his evil plans and Death Eaterness.

Ron was quick to assure Harry that Malfoy had just been showing off for Parkinson, which Hermione may have been inclined to believe if it weren’t for the fact that Parkinson had apparently looked indignant at some of Malfoy’s statements. The boys went on a small tangent where they theorized about where Bellatrix had been during this time (Harry thought she was trying to suck up to Slughorn, Ron thought she was plotting the demise of about 5 different people, and Ginny suggested that she was off making out with  _ someone _ in a compartment full of Hufflepuffs, which was immediately dismissed as complete and utter ridiculousness when that was, in fact, exactly what she had been doing). They did not linger on this topic for long, as Harry’s unending obsession with Malfoy would not allow him to talk of other things for any stretch of time.

Despite Harry’s obvious bias, Hermione resolved to ask Bella to do some spying to figure out what Malfoy was up to. It would be rather stupid of her, really, to not use the readily available Slytherin contact that she had to find out the going-ons of other Slytherins that said contact happened to despise.

And if the boys asked where she got her information, she would just have to use her usual tactics- come up with some bullshit excuse, or smile slyly and say, “I have my ways”. They never questioned her, anyway.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can imagine Bellatrix’s surprise when, during the first Potions class of the year, Harry Potter created a perfect potion and subsequently won a prize.

It had started out as a perfectly normal class. They had all been waiting outside the door, and Professor Slughorn ushered them in, with three potions that Bellatrix immediately recognized on display. He started class by asking what was in the first one- Hermione, of course, quickly answered, with Bellatrix right on her heels with a description of what it did. They went back and forth like this for Polyjuice potion as well, and when they got to Amortentia….

“And I presume it would be silly of me to ask you if you know what it does?” Slughorn asked her, looking bemused.

“It’s made to smell like whatever it is that attracts a certain person. For example, I smell parchment, vanilla ice cream, and….” Bellatrix turned a brilliant color red and made a strangled sound in the back of her throat.

Ernie MacMillan discreetly leaned over and sniffed Hermione. “A lovely lavender perfume, perhaps?”

Bellatrix very much wanted to sink through the floor and simply stop existing as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws present began giggling. “Perhaps.”

Slughorn turned to Hermione. “What’s your name, my dear?”

“Hermione Granger, sir.”

Slughorn immediately conjured up an obscure name of a person that she might be related to, and looked genuinely pleased when she announced that she was muggleborn. This derailed Draco’s snide muttering, as he also added, “Oho!  _ One of my best friends is muggleborn, and she’s the best in our year _ ! I’m assuming this is the very friend of which you spoke, Harry?”

Bellatrix dissolved into a peal of giggles (Hermione cast her a playfully mocking look) while Potter confirmed this. “And what might your name be?” Slughorn asked, turning to her.

“Bellatrix Black.”

The effect was immediate. The smile dropped right off of his face, he paled considerably, sputtered a bit, and, unable to summon up a response, turned abruptly to the front of the room.

Clearly sensing the tension in the room, MacMillan said, “You haven’t told us what’s in that one.”

Bellatrix allowed Hermione to go on about Felix Felicis- she was rather put out by Slughorn’s reaction to her name. And, of course, this was when the class went downhill.

Slughorn had set them a competition- a competition that Bellatrix, of course, wasn’t planning on winning, as Hermione had always had the upper hand in Potions. She hadn’t, however, been expecting  _ Potter _ of all people to win it.

In a completely unprecedented turn of events, Potter created a perfect Draught of Living Death. So good that Slughorn was immediately all over him, calling him a natural at Potions.

Bellatrix was completely and utterly  _ bewildered _ . Potter? Potter, who had never before shown any abilities at Potions  _ ever _ ? Potter, who, in her opinion, had never shown abilities in  _ anything _ in all of their years at school? Potter, a  _ natural _ ? 

Something was clearly not right.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“To an Umbridge free year at Hogwarts!”

“Hear, hear!”

Horace drank deeply from his glass at this toast. He had not been around for the Umbridge fiasco, but they were all drinking, so he was perfectly fine with joining in.

“So! Any interesting, newsworthy things happen over the summer?” asked Poppy.

“Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black have grown rather close,” hiccuped Pomona. “I believe she may be heading on a similar track as her sister.”

“Wait,” Minerva said, straightening suddenly. “Horace must be filled in as a new member of the staff.”

“Ah!” exclaimed Severus. “Yes. Horace. How much did you gamble back in the day?”

“Well, Albus and I occasionally placed bets on where a student would go when they graduated from Hogwarts.”

Septima snorted. “Yeah, it’s gotten much worse than that. Now we’ve got everything from careers to marriages to in school romances, down to the last detail.”

“What was it Umbridge said last year?” Severus asked dryly. “‘A rampant gambling problem?’”

Minerva scoffed. “There was no problem. We just need something to pass the time.”

“Anyway,” Pomona said, setting down her glass. “Horace. There is a lot to be said about student romances and drama. We don’t pay attention to most of it. There are, however, a few people we keep track of. Any students catch your attention as being potentially problematic in your classes?”

Horace frowned. “Well, I was startled when I asked the name of a particularly gifted student and it turned out she was the daughter of a Death Eater.”

Horace could have sworn at least 5 people called out, “Oh, that’s Bellatrix!”

Severus smiled. “Bellatrix, incidentally, is exactly the opposite of what you would expect seeing her in the classroom. She has- what has she done so far?”

Minerva tilted her head thoughtfully. “Let’s see. She saved Potter’s life 3 times, cleared her cousins name as well as saving his life, and has participated in several of their schemes.”

Horace was astonished. “She’s what?”

“Of course, her father wouldn’t approve. But it’s no secret that she was a hatstall her 1st year- we think she was probably considered for Gryffindor.”

Poppy groaned. “What else could it have been? She raced after a troll! Followed Albus into that bloody trapdoor! Tried her hardest to jump into the Chamber of Secrets! Threw herself down a staircase! That was just her first two years!”

“Poppy isn’t the biggest fan of Bellatrix,” Filius commented. Well, this much was obvious- Poppy had grown steadily redder in the face as the tirade went on.

“Well, why haven’t I heard of any of this?”

“Oh. Well, she doesn’t ever tell anyone about these things. She’s afraid of what her father would do if he found out.” Horace nodded- he had taught Cygnus Black, and he’d been his nastiest student. Ever.

“Why does she do it?”

Everyone giggled. “I’m surprised you haven’t caught on,” Minerva remarked. “She’s deeply enamoured with Hermione Granger.”

Thinking back on it, Horace probably could have had a more dignified response than spewing his drink everywhere.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione was finding that the library was letting her down quite a lot recently. She and Bellatrix had scoured the whole thing for mentions of a “Half Blood Prince” (as Bella was equally furious about Harry’s extra help), and found absolutely nothing.

Hermione did not have much time to dwell on this, however, because Harry had his first lesson with Dumbledore, reminding Hermione that she had yet to fill Bella in on the whole being destined to off the dark lord thing. So, the next day, they had to have  _ that _ conversation, which ended with Bellatrix pacing restlessly in the Room of Requirement.

“And you said Dumbledore showed him some memory about the Dark Lord’s mother?”

“Yeah. Her family was horrid, had a lot of pride in two particular family heirlooms, tried to hex a Ministry of Magic employee- your standard pureblood fare.”

“Hmm. And Dumbledore thinks she slipped the father a love potion, and that he ran once she stopped giving it to him.”

“Yes.”

Bellatrix plopped down onto the chair next to her. “Interesting.” Then she grinned. “And Dumble told Potter to tell you to not tell anyone?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. She had spent the entire day debating this very fact- and, in the end, figured that she had trusted Bella with countless information so far, why not this?

“Yes. But I’m sure Dumbledore knows it’s inevitable for me to tell you.”

“Right. Hey, mind helping me with Potions homework?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione had a busy week. The sheer amount of homework teachers were piling on them this year was unbelievable, and the course work was extremely difficult. It was a relief when the week was over, and she joined Harry and Ron down at the Quidditch pitch for trials.

She had a relatively good time- it was amusing to see all of the people that had shown up, as well as Harry’s annoyed expression, and Bella had found a way to transfigure some of her more prominent features and joined her in the stands. They both took an immediate disliking to Cormac McLaggen, who had sat next to them until Keeper tryouts and had a single minded focus on flirting with Hermione, even after Bellatrix threatened to hex his balls off (which she had done to someone before, but seeing as she was unrecognizable, it was understandable that McLaggen had not figured out that she was serious). As such, it was no moral scruple to either of them to confund him on his last save.

Bella left her when tryouts were over, and she went down with Harry and Ron to talk to Hagrid. After saying hi to Buckbeak, and Harry threatening to blast down Hagrid’s door, they were let in.

“Hagrid,” Hermione said. “We really wanted to take Care of Magical Creatures. We just couldn’t fit it in-”

“Yeah, righ’. I know for a fact tha’ Bellatrix’s got jus’ as many classes as yeh’ve got, Hermione, an’ she’s the only one takin’ my N.E.W.T. class.”

“You have to spend time alone with Bellatrix Black? Blimey, Hagrid, she hasn’t tried to hex you or anything, has she?” Ron asked.

Hagrid raised an eyebrow. “No. At leas’ she signed up for me class this year. I didn’ see any o’ you lot doin’ the same.”

“Why would she even want to take Care of Magical Creatures? She’s- well, she’s  _ her _ !”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Just because one is the daughter of a Death Eater does not mean they can’t like Magical Creatures!”

Hagrid sent her a significant look. “Or other unexpected things, for tha’ matter.” Hermione blushed- she often forgot that Hagrid likely knew about her and Bellatrix through other students or Dumbledore.

All of a sudden, there was a strange squelching sound, and they were all startled out of their conversation by the revelation that there was a large barrel of maggots in the room.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was very excited. Slughorn had invited her to his little dinner party- not that that was the exciting part. No, the best part was that it was her, Zabini, some girl she didn’t know, McLaggen, Weaslette, and Hermione. She knew the other girl was in Ravenclaw, and so the only people they had to be careful in front of were McLaggen and Zabini. Therefore, she was able to sit next to Hermione and hold her hand as much as she damn well pleased. This was a relatively new experience for Bellatrix- she had never so much as eaten a meal with Hermione before.

It was interesting, to say the least. She suspected the only reason she had enjoyed it was due to the fact that she got to spend time with Hermione, as the questionnaire Slughorn was employing on all students present about their relatives had gotten rather awkward when he had gotten to her and Hermione, as Hermione’s parents had no connection to the Wizarding World and her own parents were known death eaters (a fact she announced loudly and with absolutely no shame, causing Zabini to choke on his dinner and Weaslette to clutch the table to stay upright).

She was roped into attending the following meetings, as was Hermione- Potter and Weaslette were able to avoid them, as Potter routinely scheduled Quidditch practices on the nights of the dinners. Oh, how she wished she were captain of her own Quidditch team so that she could exercise the same powers.

Bellatrix was frankly surprised when they were allowed to go out to Hogsmeade. She would have figured that, with all of the tightened security, the trips would be cancelled. This did not happen, however, and so she decided to take advantage of this.

She had a lovely, relaxing day, only disturbed by the fact that she had to spend it with Parkinson and Greengrass. It was cut short when their trip to Zonko’s was derailed by the fact that it was closed, and Bellatrix dragged them back up to the castle on the grounds that it was cold and she wanted to go finish up her homework.

They were derailed on the way back to the castle by a horrifying scream behind them. Bellatrix whirled around and recognized the Gryffindor chaser, Katie Bell, hanging in midair, mouth open in a scream, before falling, limp, to the ground.

“Get away from her!”

Oh. She hadn’t even realized she’d run to help. Damn these heroic instincts. Potter was examining the necklace, Weasley was glaring at her, and Hermione was comforting Bell’s friend (Lenny? Laura?).

“Bellatrix. C’mon, let’s go-”

“Parkinson. Greengrass. Help me carry her?”

Parkinson glared at her, clearly affronted at the idea of helping a Gryffindor. Greengrass rolled her eyes, and grabbed Bell under the arms. “Are you a witch or not, Greengrass?” Bellatrix demanded, drawing her wand and levitating the girl. “I’m not actually going to carry her to the castle. Just- help me make sure she doesn’t hit anything important, alright?”

And they went off, leaving a startled Potter and Weasley in their wake.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione suppressed a groan as Harry accused Malfoy of cursing Katie Bell. He would not be deterred from his theory that Malfoy was evil and a Death Eater- he was even worse than Bellatrix when her “Snape is a vampire” phase had been at its peak! At least she hadn’t gotten up in front of a bunch of teachers and announced it to the world that she was insane!

She calmed down slightly when McGonagall directly contradicted Harry by telling him that Malfoy had been in detention with her the entire time. But then he started right up again.

“Then he got someone else to do it! Black was in Hogsmeade, it must’ve been her!”

“Harry, you know she helped us with Katie, right?” Well, she had to at least try, right?

“That must’ve been a distraction! To make us think that she was good, but really, she helped to curse her! Professor, you have to go investigate her!”

“To be fair, she has been acting weird lately,” Ron said. “She’s always distracted, and I saw her sneaking around the room of requirement on my prefect rounds once!”

“I wonder why that is,” McGonagall said dryly, looking pointedly at Hermione. She felt a blush rising to her face that, thankfully, Harry and Ron were too dim to notice (and, wow, Bella was rubbing off on her more than she thought, if she was insulting Harry and Ron now).

“I’m telling you, Professor, they’re both up to something!”

“Or,” Hermione said, “Bellatrix was simply visiting Hogsmeade and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Well, how do you explain the room of requirement?”

“Perhaps she is meeting up with someone?” McGonagall suggested. “A lover, maybe?”

“In what world would  _ Black _ have a lover?”

McGonagall sighed, though Hermione could see the smile hidden underneath. “I assure you, Bellatrix Black has no malicious intent. Now either present some actual evidence to me, or go back to your dorms.”

Harry and Ron practically stomped out of the room. She went to follow, when she was stopped by McGonagall saying, “And, Ms. Granger? Do tell Ms. Black to be more careful when she is meeting up with you in the middle of the night. We would hate for her to get caught.”

Hermione felt that blush flare up again. “Yes, Professor.”

Ignoring the chuckling from behind her, she dashed out of the room, after Harry and Ron.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After that, Hermione had insisted that they be more careful. Harry was now checking the Marauder’s Map before he went to bed every night, and it wouldn’t do for him to find ‘Bellatrix Black’ snuggled up in a broom closet with ‘Hermione Granger.’ So now they were only able to meet up in the Room of Requirement, which was the only place that did not show up on the map, and they had to do so a couple of minutes apart, so that they weren’t seen entering together.

It was mildly inconvenient, but it worked, seeing as Harry, while endlessly commenting on how Bellatrix entered the Room of Requirement nearly every night, never said anything about her going there as well.

It was now the day before their first match of the season, and Ron looked incredibly nervous. She saw Harry slip something into his drink- Felix Felicis.

“Ronald! Don’t drink that!”

Of course, no one ever listened to her advice. He downed the drink, and started grinning. “C’mon, Harry. We-” The smile fell off his face- “Hermione, why the hell are you wearing a Slytherin tie?”

Ah, shit.

The night before, she and Bella had gotten a little- carried away. So much so that the room had actually made a bed appear- although when this happened Bella had become so red and flustered that the mood was sort of ruined. Usually they were careful about getting dressed, but they’d been in a rush-

“I was practicing a color changing spell earlier, forgot to change it back,” she muttered, deciding that they would probably be horrified if she told them the truth.

“But why Slytherin colors?”

“I was trying all of the colors,” Hermione snapped. “McGonagall said it was good practice. Which you would know if you paid attention in class.”

“Hermione’s right,” Ginny grinned. “It’s a great idea to experiment with  _ everything, _ even Slytherins- sorry, the Slytherin  _ color _ -”

“Shut up, Ginny,” she hissed back. She was thankful that Bella was playing Quidditch today, and therefore was not wearing her tie. 

She slipped the tie off and stashed it in her bag as Ginny went off to talk to Luna. Harry and Ron went down to the pitch, and, being them, promptly forgot all about it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Guys! Guys guys guys guys!”

“What’s up, Ginny?”

Ginny flung herself onto the Ravenclaw’s bench in between Luna and Cho Chang and looked out at all of them. “She was wearing her tie!”

“Who?”

“Hermione! She was wearing a Slytherin tie!”

Everyone immediately seemed far more interested in that conversation. Ginny grinned. Gossip was always a surefire way to get people’s attention.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The match was very exciting, in Hermione’s opinion. Ron was doing excellently (though it was tainted by the potion Harry had slipped him), only missing a few goals thrown by Bellatrix (which likely wasn’t doing much to endear her to him). Gryffindor won- obviously, as Malfoy wasn’t even playing.

Now, they were standing in the Common Room, and she was gaping at Harry as he told them that he hadn’t actually put it in. She was startled- for once in her life, she had been outsmarted by him. She resolved to never tell Bella about this, as getting outsmarted by Harry was something she would never be able to live down.

Ron was a little mad at her- but, no matter, he would get over himself in time. Deciding she was tired of the party, she turned to walk out and find Bella, just before Ron pulled Lavender Brown into a kiss.


	18. Part 6: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter is a bit longer than the others. I kept thinking, okay, maybe I should stop here... or here... and before I knew it, it was the end of the year and Part 6 only had 2 chapters. Oops. 
> 
> i don't own harry potter

Part 6: Chapter 2

Bellatrix was just a little annoyed, mostly at herself. How could she let  _ Ronald Weasley _ stop her throws? It was outrageous! It was unacceptable! It was-

Ooh, look, Hermione!

Bellatrix promptly forgot all about the match at the sight of Hermione coming towards her. Hermione tended to have this effect on her, especially when the first thing she did was pull her into a broom cupboard.

“Hey, Hermione.”

“Hey. We need to be more careful.”

Well, that killed the mood. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Ron noticed before me this morning that I was wearing your tie.”

Bellatrix found this hilarious. “I assume you’d like yours back, then?”

“Yes! And next time, let’s try to get the right clothes on!”

“So there’ll be a next time?”

“Of course there will.”

Bellatrix grinned, and grabbed Hermione’s tie (her tie, right now) to pull her closer.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, ‘Mione? I dunno if you knew, but last night-”

Harry was interrupted by loud squealing as Lavender Brown launched herself on Ron and began kissing him. He looked at her anxiously, as if waiting for some horrible response, but she just rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. “About time, too. She’s been mooning after him for a while now, you know. And Ron needed someone to snog, he’s getting far too protective of Ginny.”

Harry frowned. “You’re not, you know, jealous?”

She stared at him, incredulous. “Of what?”

“Well- don’t you like Ron?”

She burst into laughter. “God, Harry, no! What gave you that idea?”

“Well, er, you ran out of the room when they started kissing.”

“Harry, I didn’t even see that. I was just leaving to get some peace and quiet.”

“Oh,” he narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t like him?”

Sensing that he was not going to give this up any time soon, she sighed. “If you really want to know? I don’t like Ron, I never have and I never will. I’m- er- sort of seeing someone right now, actually.”

He gaped at her. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

She scoffed. “I’m not telling you. You don’t- er- you don’t really know them, anyway. They’re not in Gryffindor.”

“Oh. Well then.”

“How was your last lesson with Dumbledore?”

“Oh! Yeah, it was good-”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He  _ actually  _ thought you liked  _ Weasley _ ?”

“Yes. So I told him I was seeing someone, I wouldn’t tell him who, obviously, but now Ron knows as well so he’ll know that I’m not interested. I don’t think he cares right now, really- he’s practically attached to Lavender.”

“I know. I’ve seen it. It’s absolutely revolting.”

“Agreed.”

“Well, anyway- what are you doing over the holidays?”

“Honestly, I might just stay here with my sisters. You?”

“I’m staying here as well.”

Bellatrix’s face split into a wide grin. “Really?”

“Yep. And Harry and Ron are going to the Burrow. I don’t know of anyone in Gryffindor that’s actually staying.”

“Great! Tonks is staying, unfortunately, and I think there’s one Slytherin third year that’s also staying. I dunno about the rest of the Hufflepuff’s or Ravenclaws.”

“So we only need to avoid the one Slytherin?”

They grinned at each other. This was going to be a fun holiday.

“Of course, we have to get through Slughorn’s party first.”

“Oh, damn it. Forgot about that. Are you bringing anyone?”

“No.”

“Same. I mean, obviously, I would like to bring you-”

“But Potter, Zabini, and McLaggen are all going to be there?”

“Exactly.”

“We’ll sit next to each other. Or something.”

“Or something.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione ended up spending a large amount of time at the Christmas party running from McLaggen, who was still attempting to pursue her. It was getting rather annoying, actually.

But then the next day nearly everyone left the castle, and she was free to walk around in the corridors with Bella whenever she damn well pleased, which was a new experience for her. The one Slytherin staying at the school had had a family emergency (one of the few unrelated to the Dark Lord), so there was no need to hide anything, resulting in Hermione spending a large amount of time in the Slytherin Common Room with Bella, Andy, and Narcissa. She put some time into trying to get to know Narcissa, as she had been completely unsuccessful in that venture. Unfortunately, Narcissa, while not disliking her, simply did not want to talk to her, and so Hermione was forced to give up after 3 days and go back to snogging Bellatrix everywhere she could.

One thing that happened over the holidays that Bella was not happy about was the fact that Andy had begun holding hands with Ted Tonks while they sat together at meals, in the Common Room, in the library- causing Bella to glare at Ted whenever he entered a room.

This was, however, largely forgotten about, as Bella was getting as much ‘Hermione time’ as she could out of this arrangement. Hermione had no problem with this- it was rare that she got to spend time with Bella during the day. They had a good laugh when Hermione mentioned that Harry had left her with the words, “I’ve got something important to tell you. And keep an eye on Black for me.” Hermione personally thought that she was doing a very good job of this, as she had practically started living with the girl. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and before they knew it, it was the beginning of term again. Hermione was surprised at the amount of things she found herself having to move back to Gryffindor tower- books, parchment, ink, clothes, toiletries- she could only hope that she had everything, though Bella assured her that if her dormmates found a random Gryffindor scarf, she could always say she’d been stealing from first years.

When Harry got back, she presented him with a notice from Dumbledore about their next meeting, and he told her all about what he had overheard at the Christmas Party. She had to admit that this did make him right about Malfoy, and when she talked to Bella she made sure to ask her to keep an eye on what he might be doing.

This turned out to be a useful exercise. Bellatrix did some digging (meaning she asked Parkinson, who was all too happy to tell her), and discovered that Draco was  _ also _ frequenting the Room of Requirement, and was having Crabbe and Goyle polyjuice themselves as young girls and warn him when there was someone outside. He hadn’t said much about what he was doing in there, but Parkinson had gotten the gist of it- he was attempting to repair something.

They had several theories about what this might be, but in the end, decided that they would never be able to guess, and would simply have to sneak into the room while Draco was in there.

This proved to be futile. The room would not let them in, which was aggravating, as it had always done whatever they wanted (it was called the room of  _ requirement _ , after all). Bella had sworn at it a little after they spent nearly an hour one night pacing in front of the door, thinking up any and every version of “Open up and tell me what Malfoy’s doing in you!” (this was, at least, the first thing Bella tried). 

They gave it up as a bad job, and resolved to find a different way. Meanwhile, Harry was still trying and failing to get the memory for Slughorn, and all of Hermione’s dorm mates had suddenly turned against her.

“Parvati, what, exactly, did I do?”

Parvati bit her lip and shifted around anxiously. “Look, Hermione, it’s nothing personal. It’s just- Lavender. She’s convinced you’re trying to seduce Ron.”

Hermione gaped at her, and immediately regretted her decision to have this conversation in the middle of dinner, where Ginny could hear their conversation and feel free to laugh at her.

“I’m not! I’m not even- I’m seeing someone!”

Now it was Parvati’s turn to look surprised. “You are? Well, why haven’t you said something?”

“It’s secret. Ron knows about it, which means it’s completely ridiculous that he didn’t tell Lavender when she started thinking this-”

“Well, Ron doesn’t know that Lavender is all jealous.”

“He doesn’t? God, even Harry figured it out, and he’s as dense as they come!”

“Hey, ‘Mione, I heard that!”

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Lavender demanded, leaning in and narrowing her eyes.

Hermione sighed. “Lavender. I assure you, I am not trying to seduce Ronald.”

“What? Parvati, you told her?”

Parvati shrugged. “It was getting annoying.”

“Ugh. Well, look, Hermione, I know you like him. But back off.”

Ron looked up from his food. “She doesn’t like me. She’s got some boyfriend or something.”

Lavender’s eyebrows practically disappeared into her hair. “You’ve got a  _ boyfriend _ ? Who is it? Is he someone we know?”

Ginny cackled. “Oh, I don’t think Hermione’s too keen on the idea of sharing who her  _ boyfriend _ is.”

“Ginny-”

“You know something!” Ron declared, pointing his fork at her. “Tell us, who is it?”

“Can’t. Hermione’s very touchy about it. They would probably kill me if I told.”

“Yes, we would.”

“At least tell us someone who does know!” Harry pleaded. “It’s been months, she hasn’t said anything!”

“Ooh, it must be scandalous! Go on then, who is it?” Lavender grinned. 

Hermione groaned. “I’m not going to tell you guys. Drop it.”

But, as she should probably know by this point, no one ever listened to what she said.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was sulking. 

Hermione had spent most of the last week in the hospital wing with Weasley, seeing as he had been poisoned. It wasn’t that Bellatrix didn’t care about Weasley- she just didn’t appreciate him cutting into her Hermione time.

Her mood was alleviated by the match against Hufflepuff, as Cormac McLaggen was a horrible player- not a bad Keeper, but a horrible player nonetheless. Not to mention Luna Lovegood’s commentary was the highlight of her day, though she had to wonder what had possessed McGonagall to allow her to commentate. 

Weasley got better, and went back to eating Lavender’s face off in the corridors. Bellatrix found it extraordinarily disgusting (though part of that might have been attributed to the fact that  _ she _ could not make out with  _ her _ girlfriend in the corridors), and took pains to avoid them at all costs.

They had no breakthroughs on the Malfoy issue- the room was unrelenting, and she could think of no way to get in short of asking Malfoy, which was completely ridiculous because he didn’t like her very much. They only talked over the summer, and that was only because they had to. The only thing that they knew about Malfoy was that he was, in fact, a Death Eater (something Hermione did not tell Potter, because it either would have made him kill Malfoy or shout it from the astronomy tower)- her father had not been pleased that Abraxas’s child was chosen over his, though it was obvious that it was only because Draco was a boy, seeing as he had never in his life displayed skills anywhere close to hers.

And then, of course, the whole thing was set off track by the discovery of Horcruxes. Bellatrix had read about them- the Black family library held some questionable books, and Bellatrix had always been a curious child- and was able to fill Hermione in on the details. It was only a matter of figuring out where the hell the bloody things were. 

This, of course, was not going to be an easy task, seeing as she had no idea where to start the search. But, alas, she had consigned herself for difficult things when she had started hanging out with Hermione Granger.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They spent the next few weeks in a state of listlessness. There was no way to tell what Malfoy was doing, unless he explicitly told them- and, seeing as Bella never talked to him and he hated Hermione, there was no chance in that.

There was a small disaster in the form of Harry ‘accidentally’ cursing Malfoy in a bathroom, causing him to hide his book in the Room of Requirement. Snape had given him about a million detentions, and Hermione felt that this was an appropriate punishment (though she wouldn’t tell him that). It had the additional benefit of giving her and Bella something to do- they began looking through the library in earnest, looking for any mention of a “Half-Blood Prince”. They found an Eileen Prince, who looked hauntingly familiar for a reason Hermione could not quite place, but Harry dismissed this theory by saying that he was sure the Prince was a boy.

With Bella, she was able to get through the library a lot quicker, and it was her suggestion to see who she had married, as her son, perhaps, was the mystery person (as Bella had been able to confirm that Eileen Prince was, indeed, a pureblood.)

While they were pouring over papers in their very limited free time, Bellatrix shot up and gave Hermione an astonished look. “Oh my god!”

“Look at you, using muggle expressions.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Look at this!”

Hermione peered at the newspaper. It detailed the marriage of one Eileen Prince and-

Their eyes met for a brief moment. “Snape.”

Hermione was on her feet in an instant, grabbing the paper from Bella’s hands and racing off to the Gryffindor common room, the sound of Bella’s cackle following her.

“It was Snape!” she proclaimed triumphantly, throwing the paper down on the table.

“Huh?”

“The Prince! Look at this- Eileen Prince married a muggle man, who’s name was Tobias Snape! Severus Snape was a Half-Blooded Prince!”

Harry looked at her in horror. “ _ I’ve been following Snape’s instructions?!” _

“Blimey! No wonder he recognized the spell you used on Malfoy! He made it up!”

“Harry,” Hermione said sternly. “How is it you never once recognized the fact that the handwriting in this book is the same one you’ve been seeing on the blackboard for 6 years?”

“Well- I-” he sputtered. “I didn’t think it would be a teacher!”

“Mate, you spent hours pouring over that book!”

Harry all but wailed in despair. “I know!”

“So you can’t say that those spells were entirely innocent!” Hermione told him. He banged his head on the table in response.

Ron sat back in his chair, looking utterly defeated. “Why would Snape even want a spell like that? What kind of person  _ makes a spell _ that cuts a person open?”

“A vampire,” Hermione said, automatically. Harry and Ron gave her weird looks, and she tried to ignore the headache coming on. She spent far too much time with Bella.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione thought it was about damn time Harry got going with Ginny. The best part was that Ron was okay with it (as okay as he could be, at least), and so they were now free to go galavanting around the castle with their relationship on full display, and Hermione had to admit that she was maybe a little jealous.

Harry hadn’t even known he  _ liked _ Ginny until this year. She and Bella were going on a year and a half at this point, and yet no one was allowed to know. Of course, she knew it was for a good reason- Harry and Ron would be furious, and Bella’s father might murder both of them if word got back to him. Better to keep it hidden. Still, Hermione couldn’t help but wish, sometimes, that their relationship wasn’t confined to empty rooms and deserted corridors.

She did not get time to dwell on this, however, because Jimmy Peakes rushed into the room and told Harry that Dumbledore wanted to see him  _ right now _ . Harry looked panicked for a moment, and then rushed out of the room.

Half an hour later, he came back, and gave them a hurried explanation before shoving the Marauder’s Map and the rest of his Felix Felicis into their hands and running back to Dumbledore’s office.

Hermione stood there in shock for a moment before jumping into action. “Ron, go find Neville and Ginny, they’re in the library right now. Take this, stand a little way away from the Room of Requirement, if Malfoy comes out try to stop him. I’ll send out a message and see who responds, and I’ll go wait by Snape’s office. Here, take a tiny little sip- now give it here- and bring it to Neville and Ginny.”

He nodded, running off. She hurried off to the girl’s dormitory, rifling through her trunk before coming out with a golden galleon. Frantically, she sent out a message- meet by the great hall.

After a second of hesitation, she grabbed her book, and wrote, **Bella- Dumbledore and Harry have left the school to find a horcrux. Malfoy celebrating in the room of requirement, meet by Great Hall ASAP.**

Grabbing her wand, she ran off, hoping against all hope that someone would still check their coins.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second she got Hermione’s message, Bellatrix leaped out of her seat.

“Where are you going?”

“None of your business, Parkinson.”

“Are you off to join Draco?”

“No.”

“Well, where-”

“ _ Stupefy! _ ” She supposed she regretted it a bit, but, honestly, she was in the way!

She ran as fast as she could to the Great Hall, where Luna Lovegood was already standing, looking dreamily around her. “Oh, hello, Bellatrix!”

“Hey, Luna. Have you seen Hermione?”

“Oh, no. I’m waiting for her now. Did she ask for you too?”

“Yeah-”

“Hey! Guys! Luna, you came, thank god-”

“Hermione, what’s going on?”

“Harry’s worried that something is going to happen tonight. There are probably going to be extra people in the halls, but just in case, Ron, Neville, and Ginny are watching the room of requirement because Draco was celebrating about something in there, and we’re going to watch out for Snape.”

“Good idea. Well, let’s go-”

“Hermione! Bella!”

“ _ The bloody hell are you doing here? _ ”

“We came to help!” Andy grinned, coming to a stop and brandishing a galleon.

“I was dragged into this,” scowled Cissy, fixing her robes.

“No. Absolutely not. No, no way, you two are going back to the common room  _ this instant _ -”

“No! I’m staying right here!”

“What’s happening, exactly?”

“Dumbledore’s left the castle, Draco’s up to something, we’re going to go keep an eye on Snape.”

“I can help!”

“No, Cissy, you’re too young-”

“Am not! You and Hermione fought a troll in your first year!”

“I- that was- completely-”

“Bella.” Bellatrix rounded on Hermione. “Look, why don’t we- Narcissa can go warn people if something happens. The other teachers, things like that.”

“Not you too!”

Hermione gave her a look that told her she wouldn’t be arguing with her today. 

“How will I warn them?”

Hermione looked amused. “Do something your sister would do. Ring a bell and run around the school screaming that Death Eaters are coming.”

“Hey!”

Cissy brightened at this. “I can tell you if Draco’s up to anything!”

“She could wait by the Room of Requirement. If something happens, she can go warn other people,” Luna suggested.

Bella could find no way around this. “Fine. Go. Whatever.”

“Wait,” Hermione said suddenly. “Where one goes, the other always follows-”

“The bloody hell are you-”

“Andy!”

“Oh,  _ hell _ no!”

“Ted! You made it!”

“And you brought MacMillan. I’m leaping with joy,” Bellatrix deadpanned, not happy at all with this development.

This only seemed to amuse Hermione further. “Alright. Ernie, go with Narcissa and Ted to the room of requirement. Find Ron, Neville, and Ginny. And, Ernie-” she lowered her voice as the younger two ran off- “if, by any chance, Death Eaters  _ do _ attack the school, I want you to get them as far away as possible, alright?”

He puffed his chest out. “I can do that.”

Bella sent Hermione a grateful look. “Okay. Andy can go back to bed-”

“I’m coming with you!”

Bellatrix scowled her heart out, to no avail. “Fine!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a while of waiting, the situation suddenly descended into chaos.

Ginny had been waiting with their little group for an hour now, keeping an eye on the map. They were just starting to think about giving it up as a bad job, when a little dot saying, “Draco Malfoy” appeared. 

“There he is!”

“Wait!” Narcissa hissed. Neville and Ron had been reluctant to let her join them, but Ernie, Ted, and herself had all vouched for her, so they had no choice but to accept it. Ginny suspected that this was the reason that Hermione had only sent one Black to help (if Ted and Narcissa were involved, Andy must be as well)- any more and Ron might’ve spontaneously combusted.

“What is it?” Ron growled.

“Stay hidden and watch. Don’t charge them, because they’ll probably be on the lookout for something like that.”

“But-”

“Do you want to do this the sensible way or the Gryffindor way?” she snapped.

Ginny shook with silent laughter. “I like this kid.”

“Look!”

Draco, having looked around and seen no one there (as Narcissa, Slytherin as she was, had hidden them away in the shadows), beckoned behind him for people to come out. Ginny stifled a gasp as about 5 Death Eaters emerged from the room.

Ron looked around at the group. “Okay. Ernie, you take the big blonde one. Gin, take the smaller one on the left- Ted, the skinny one in the middle- Neville, see that dumb looking bloke? With the pimples? You take him- I’ll take the last one, and Black can-”

“Stun Malfoy from a distance?” Ernie suggested.

“I can fight!”

“Your sister doesn’t want you to!” 

His eyes widened, and he looked panicked, but Neville and Ron had no reaction.

“Hermione roped Andromeda in as well?”

Ginny relaxed. “Yep. Alright, well, let’s just- do this. Come on.”

And she leapt out from her hiding place, stunning the first Death Eater before he had a chance to blink.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Narcissa did not understand how her sister did this sort of thing on a regular basis. Not the fighting- although it didn’t exactly appeal to her tastes. No, what she couldn’t stand was the  _ insufferable _ Gryffindors. Weasley, who had no tact whatsoever, and Longbottom, who looked at her like she was about to burst into a frenzied killing rage any minute. I mean, really! She was  _ thirteen years old _ ! She wasn’t a child, but she wasn’t a Death Eater either! Truthfully, the only Gryffindor she could stand was Hermione, and not only because her sister was head over heels for the girl, though that was certainly a large part of it. No, she tolerated her because she was  _ not _ an idiot, and could actually use her head, and hadn’t yet spilled her’s and Bella’s cover, which must count for something.

Needless to say, it was all she could do to not groan when Weaslette leaped out at the Death Eaters, leaving the rest no choice but to follow. Without any planning! At all! Whatsoever! It was like they had no idea how to stealthily take out an enemy! (Narcissa, of course, did not know anything about this either, having never been in combat, but this thought did not cross her mind).

The blonde one started firing the killing curse everywhere, which seemed to miraculously miss everyone involved, though with quite a bit of ducking on MacMillan and Tonks’s parts. Narcissa was safely stowed away in her hiding place, and blasted what she recognized as Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder right out of Draco’s hand, leaving him bewildered. As this happened, 5 more death eaters emerged from the room, and joined the fray, tipping the balance in their favor.

The big Blonde one that MacMillan was supposed to be battling broke free and ran towards the Astronomy Tower.

Only hesitating a moment, and cursing her sister, Death Eaters, Draco, and everything under the sun, Narcissa crept out of her space, out of notice of everyone, and chased after him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remus Lupin, with his (slightly) advanced hearing, picked up on the commotion a second before his companions did. When they did, they all glanced at each other, and set off to see what was going on.

They found a mess. A small blonde student (Draco Malfoy, Remus presumed) was battling Ronald Weasley. Neville Longbottom was losing a battle with a large Death Eater, a small Hufflepuff boy was unconscious on the ground (at least he hoped he was unconscious), Ginny Weasley was hexing everyone in sight, and an older Hufflepuff was battling a skinny looking Death Eater.

Minerva shouted in outrage as a killing curse narrowly missed one of her students, and she joined the fray. Remus snapped out of his shock and joined her, along with Sirius and Filius Flitwick.

“Filius! Go find Severus, bring him up here!” Minerva shouted as Ron was blasted back and Malfoy ran off in the other direction.

As Filius ran to get Snape, Lupin could only hope that they could hold out long enough for the help to arrive.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione narrowed her eyes when she saw Flitwick passed out on the floor of Snape’s office. She knew Dumbledore trusted him, knew  _ she _ should trust him, but that little voice in the back of her head that remembered Harry’s description of that horrible spell in that horrible book told her that maybe, just  _ maybe _ , she shouldn’t.

“Andy, Luna, you stay here and make sure he’s okay. Bella and I will go chase after Snape.”

“But-”

“No buts, Andy. Luna, make sure she stays, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Bella, come on!”

They ran off in the direction Snape had gone, and managed to catch up with him as he headed up to the Astronomy tower. They hid in the shadows as a battle ensued by the staircase, and various Order members tried to break through some kind of barrier, and Snape managed to run through with no resistance. She could not find Ron or Ted or Narcissa, but Ernie was still fighting, along with Ginny, while Neville laid, unconscious, on the floor. Bill Weasley was dueling furiously with a masked Death Eater, a long gash on his chest, McGonagall was sending a flurry of jinxes into the fray, Remus Lupin was battling a filthy looking man with horrifyingly sharp teeth, Sirius was screaming at the top of his lungs about Harry (as per usual), and Sprout was lying on the floor with a sizeable lump on her head.

Hermione jumped in, helping Bill with the person he was fighting, ending the fight almost immediately. He nodded his thanks, before leaning against the wall, his wound taking its toll. She blocked a spell headed towards Ginny, hexed a Death Eater, and whirled around to find a wand pointed at her.

“Avada-”

“Petrificus totalus!”

Before he could finish the spell, he froze up, falling to the floor with a thud. Hermione looked around wildly for her savior, to see Narcissa crouched under the staircase, looking at the scene with wide eyes.  _ Bella’s going to muder her _ , Hermione thought.  _ Or Ernie. Or Andy. Or me. Or- _

“It’s over!” The rest of the Death Eaters started retreating at these words. Moments later, Harry rushed past them, brandishing his wand. Too exhausted to follow him, Hermione sank to the floor.

“Hermione? Hey, you alright?”

Thank god for Bellatrix. “Yeah. Fine.” Hermione allowed herself a moment to sit before taking a deep breath. “Help me up?”

She did, and Hermione straightened and turned to Ernie. “Where’s Ted?”

“Knocked out back at the room of requirement-”

“Never mind that,” Bella snapped. “Where’s Cissy?”

“Er-”

“ _ Where is she _ ?!”

“We don’t know. I think she ran off, she wasn’t there when I went to get her out-”

“YOU LOST MY SISTER?! YOU LITTLE-”

“Hey, Bella?”

Hermione could see Bellatrix’s already pale skin whiten, and could have sworn she saw all 5 stages of grief pass through her eyes. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here,” she ground out.

Narcissa, who had emerged from under the staircase, swallowed nervously. “I, um. I. I was, um….”

“I told you to go back if there was a fight. I told you to go warn people!”

“I know! But he was running off, and no one noticed, so I ran off after him!”

“Who is ‘ _ he _ ’?!”

Narcissa pointed at the ground, where a Death Eater lay, unconscious. “I knocked him out. He was throwing killing curses all over the place-”

“HE WAS WHAT?!” Hermione could see that Narcissa knew this had not been the right thing to say. 

“Well- he was, he was, er-”

“YOU RAN AFTER SOMEONE WHO WAS FIRING KILLING CURSES? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED, YOU BLOODY  _ IDIOT _ !”

Hermione suddenly found special interest in the surrounding room. Around her, everyone else was staring awkwardly at the exchange- she didn’t think any of them had known that Narcissa was there, and she could see McGonagall’s face paling rapidly as she realized that a second year had been present.

“But I-”

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RISKY THAT WAS?”

“Bella-”

“HE COULD HAVE HIT YOU WITH ONE OF THOSE CURSES!”

“But he didn’t!”

“OH, THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH BETTER! NOW YOU’LL THINK THAT RUNNING AFTER MURDEROUS DEATH EATERS IS A GOOD IDEA!”

“But if he’d killed someone else-”

“SO WHAT? SO WHAT IF HE KILLED SOMEONE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU WOULDN’T BE FUCKING DEAD-”

Roused by all of the shouting, Neville sat up blearily. “Wha’s goin’ on?”

Bellatrix growled, marched over, and stomped her foot on his face, knocking him out again. As she turned back to yell at her sister more, Hermione decided that this was the time to step in.

“Bella. Hey. Let’s talk about this later, alright? People need to get to the hospital wing, we’ve got to go check on Andy, we need to figure out what happened.”

Bellatrix seemed to finally realize that there were other people in the room. She took a few calming breaths, and only looked slightly murderous when she turned to Narcissa, said, “This conversation is not over,” and stalked out.

After a few moments, McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. “Ah. Yes. Well, let’s get Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Weasley to the hospital wing. Remus, you will take Bill-? Good, Ms. Granger, if you would help me with Longbottom. Sirius, would you call the Auror department and tell them we’ve got a number of Death Eaters here? Thank you. Hmm- Pomona, are you alright? Hit your head a bit there- Ms. Weasley, please escort her to the hospital wing. Filius- does anyone know where Filius is?”

“He’s in Snape’s office. Knocked out. Andy and Luna are with him.”

“Alright. Ms. Black, come with me- you’re alright, now, dear- and we’ll go get your sister. Someone said Mr. Tonks had been knocked out?”

“Near the Room of Requirement, along with Ron.”

“We will fetch them as well.”

And she left, leaving them to carry out her orders.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dumbledore’s  _ what _ ?” 

Andromeda Black, from her spot next to Ted’s bed, thought her heart must’ve stopped. How could Dumbledore be dead? He had always seemed immortal, in a way, and it was very odd that he was just  _ gone _ . 

A large amount of people were in the hospital wing- she and Ernie and a couple more Hufflepuffs were crowded around Ted, a whole host of redheads and other assorted people were near the Weasley’s bed (there was some drama going on about a wedding, of all things), and nearly the entire staff was dispersed here and there. Narcissa was sulking, as she had been chewed out by Bellatrix because she’d run after a Death Eater throwing out killing curses like candy on Halloween, something that Andy thought was admirable, though she’d never say this at risk of getting a lecture from her sister (an additional one, at least, since it had been her fault, according to Bella, that Cissy had been there in the first place). 

Harry had explained the whole thing, and the others filled in the story. No one mentioned that Bella had been there- and, of course, no one would ever mention that they were either, lest they face the wrath of Cygnus (Andy had long given up calling him father.)

It was a complicated affair. Apparently  _ Snape _ had done it, and while she hadn’t been particularly fond of the professor, he had never seemed the type to kill someone. Just- give them detention, or reprimand them, or  _ something _ that wasn’t murder. But he had done it, and there was no denying that fact. Andy reflected bitterly that Hermione had been right to go after him- if only they had stopped him! They could’ve- tied him up, or knocked him out! But, no, they’d just let him run from the room and go to murder someone.

Andromeda was happy to find out that they would be able to stay at Hogwarts for the funeral. It would be a sad affair, sure, but it was better at being at home, even with her father distracted with being a Death Eater and serving MoldyVoldy. It was impressive- the centaurs and merpeople both made an appearance, a giant carried him down the aisle, and everybody and their mothers had showed up. A grand affair for a grand man.

Fitting.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The whole school was in low spirits on the train ride home. Andy fussed over Ted, Cissy sulked in the corner of the compartment, still nursing her injured pride from when Bellatrix had chewed her out in front of all of her friends (though she would never admit that she was friends with these people), and the Creeveys and MacMillan sat around listlessly.

Bellatrix privately thought that they had no excuse to be so despondent. Sure, she was upset that Dumbledore had died, and she understood that everyone else was as well. But they would all be attending Hogwarts in the fall, surrounded by friends, and while Bellatrix was able to  _ tolerate _ her fellow Slytherins and her sister’s friends, they weren’t the same, not nearly, as Hermione.

A few days before the end of term, Hermione had sat her down (in the middle of a very nice snogging session) and told her the somber truth- she would not be returning to Hogwarts next year.

Nothing Bellatrix said, no argument she presented, no amount of pleading, would convince her otherwise. Eventually, she gave up, and they ended up holding each other on the couch for the entire night. 

So, naturally, she was taking the time between Hogwarts and London to glare at everyone around her, scowling as much as she pleased. They did not know why, of course, but everyone just assumed this was another one of her ‘moods’.

Half an hour before they got to the Platform, the door was flung open. “Bella.”

Bellatrix all but launched herself at Hermione as she stood in the doorway. She hadn’t thought that she would be able to see her again- that her friends would have detained her the whole train ride.

“Potter and Weasley let you go?”

“Ginny distracted them. She’ll cover for me. I wanted to come see you.”

Bellatrix sighed and snuggled in close to her. “Come sit down.”

“Sure.”

Sitting on the train, cuddled up against Hermione, surrounded by friends (sort of), Bellatrix could almost forget the dark days ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!


	19. Part 7: Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own harry potter

Part 7: Chapter 1

_ Just overheard Cygnus and Abraxas talking (they really need to work on that, by the way, I pick up on their plans far too often). Someone told them that Potter was being moved a bit earlier, they’ll be planning an ambush. Please tell me you lot have some sort of plan. _

**We do, and thanks for the tip- I told Mad-Eye, he reckons it’s irresponsible to talk to you, or literally anyone** **_ever_ ** **about our plans, you know how he is, CONSTANT VIGILANCE and all that. I still think he appreciated the advice, we’re taking all the necessary precautions.**

_ Merlin, Hermione, please tell me you’re not going to do anything stupid. _

**Mad-Eyes just told us the plan- don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe, we’ll be fine.**

_ Hermione, if you die, I will murder you. _

**Noted. Stay safe.**

Bellatrix rubbed at her eyes, trying to push back the headache, something that was becoming all too common these days. She thanked Merlin the Dark Lord hadn’t set up shop at  _ her _ house, as the few times she had met him she had gotten Crucio’d about a million times, and that was not something she wanted to see becoming a regular occurrence. 

She had a horrible feeling that whatever it was that was going to happen would end in something horrible. After all, a bunch of Gryffindors were heading the operation.  _ You’re more Gryffindor than Slytherin _ , a snide voice in her head said. She told it to shove it somewhere the sun didn’t shine, and started pacing around the room.

Whatever was going to happen, she would  _ not _ let Hermione get hurt doing it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione steeled herself to drink the Polyjuice potion, feeling herself growing a bit and her hair receding into her head. It felt odd to be standing in Harry’s body- he was a bit bulkier (though not much, as he’d always been skinny) than she was, and had little bits of stubble coming in on his chin. 

She ended up with Kingsley on a thestral, which she was more than happy about- she was not at all comfortable on a broom, unlike the majority of her friends. They all grouped around outside, waiting for the signal.

As soon as it went off, Kingsley kicked at the side of the thestral, and it took off into the air. Just as she had told Mad-Eye, nearly 30 Death Eaters appeared in the sky. They were all ready, and scattered, throwing up shield charms.

Still, there was no way to prepare for this onslaught, and Hermione found herself ducking past spells and clinging to the thestral for dear life. 5 different Death Eaters soared after them as they flew to their safe house- Kingsley narrowly avoided a killing curse, and she stunned one, knocking him off his broom and to the ground below.

Their thestral was hit with a slicing hex, causing them to dip and her to nearly be thrown off. She caught a glimpse of Fred and Mr. Weasley- they had more on them, as Fred was flying nearly as well as Harry did. Bill and Fleur were doing all sorts of rolls and dives to avoid the Death Eaters- Fleur was sending an impressive array of jinxes and hexes, if she wasn’t careful they would recognise that she was not Harry.

She sucked in a breath when she saw George flying with Remus, and someone raised their wand to send a curse at George-

_ Wham! _ A Death Eater was knocked clean off his broom by a cloaked figure, who circled around and kicked someone else in the face, taking off their mask and making them lose balance. She recognized him as Crabbe Sr.- he sent a curse at the figure, who easily blocked it.

“Who is that?” Kingsley demanded.

“No idea!” Well, she had a hunch. She just hoped dearly that she was wrong.

“Well, whoever it is, they’re certainly very good on a broom-”

The figure dove down to pierce through a small squadron of Death Eaters, sending them scattering away. They swooped back around, sending hex after hex into the battle.

A Death Eater bore down on her and Kingsley, raising his wand and starting to cast a curse-

“Stupefy!”

The figure knocked the Death Eater out of the sky, and Hermione did a double take when she saw a long, black curl peeking out from under the hood.

_ Fuck _ .

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was having a wonderful time.

Flying, dueling, and knocking people over all at the same time? Who wouldn’t be having fun?

Of course, she understood the seriousness of the situation- how could she not? After all, Hermione was somewhere around here, probably disguised as Potter (a rather clever idea, though not one she appreciated Hermione participating in, as it would likely get her killed). She was relatively sure she knew which one she was- she wasn’t on a broom, Hermione was an awful flyer, and there were only two thestrals. One of them was wrapped so tightly around Bill Weasley that it only could have been Fleur, so that meant that Hermione was with Kingsley Shacklebolt, and was currently free of opponents, thanks to Bellatrix.

She figured she would get some sort of credit for this, as she’d saved several people’s lives- honestly, how were these people expecting to live if they didn’t even put up shields? Naturally, Hermione would lecture her about it endlessly, and if her sisters ever found out, Cissy would give her disapproving looks and most likely call her a hypocrite, as she had scolded her for doing basically the same thing- jump into a battle with no regard for her own safety.

But all of that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have fun while doing it.

All of a sudden, the Dark Lord himself appeared, going after Mad-Eye and his partner with single-minded focus. Bellatrix, not really knowing what else to do, put on a deep voice and said, “My Lord! He’s here! The real Potter is over here!”

“Why don’t you just press your mark, you imbeciles-”

In the momentary distraction, where Voldemort floated in midair (and, oh, Merlin, he could fly now) and the surrounding Death Eaters looked around in confusion, Mad-Eye and his Harry Potter escaped into the night.

All in a day’s work, she supposed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK I SWEAR TO GOD PLEASE TELL ME YOU WERE NOT FLYING AROUND LIKE A LUNATIC IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE WHERE YOU COULD HAVE BEEN RECOGNIZED BY ANY NUMBER OF DEATH EATER’S!!!!!**

_ What would you do if I was there? _

**I would murder you.**

_ … _

_ Then no i was not there _

**Don’t you dare lie to me.**

**Bellatrix**

**BELLATRIX**

_ Alright, fine, you wouldn’t tell me what the plan was so I figured it was dangerous WHICH IT WAS so I decided I would go help u guys out _

**And what, pray tell, would you have done if your father, who WAS PRESENT AT THE TIME, had recognized you?**

_ He didn’t recognize me at the Department of Mysteries! _

**_Hi, Bellatrix, sorry, Hermione had to go take a few deep breaths before continuing this conversation. (this is ginny, by the way). And she’s right, it was absolutely reckless, you could have been killed!_ **

_ Oh, not you too, Weaslette. I saved your brother’s life! _

**_Which one._ **

_ Do you honestly think i can tell the difference between the Weasley’s on a regular day, much less when it’s dark and they’re all disguised like Harry Potter? I have no idea which one, but I definitely got at least half of the Potters out of bad situations, so one of them must’ve been involved at some point. _

**_Well then._ **

**_Thank you._ **

**_It was still very stupid._ **

_ Since when do I do smart things? _

**Never.**

_ C’mon Hermione. I’ve done SOME smart things. _

**Like throwing yourself off a staircase?**

_ WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP BRINGING THAT UP? _

**BECAUSE IT WAS STUPID THAT’S WHY.**

_ I HAVE TO GO WE WILL CONTINUE THIS LATER _

Hermione frowned at the abrupt end. Ginny snickered (something she did quite a lot when Hermione talked to Bella). “Trouble in paradise?”

Hermione scowled. “I can’t believe she would do that!”

“To be fair, Hermione, she’s done worse things. And she saved a lot of people’s lives, you know. We should be thankful for that.”

“Yes, but she could’ve been killed!”

“You sound just like her when she was yelling at her sister.”

Sighing, Hermione, set the book down. “D’you think she’s mad at me now?”

Ginny snorted. “Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t be mad for long. Look, just apologize sometime soon, say you overreacted a bit, she’ll come round. Bellatrix has never been able to stay mad at you.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

Seeing the shit-eating grin on Ginny’s face, Hermione really had no choice but to hit her with a pillow.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Bella- sorry. I overreacted, and I know you were just trying to help. Thank you, by the way.**

_ Hmm. I suppose you’re forgiven. _

**Good.**

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hermy-own-ninny?”

“Viktor!”

Paying no mind to Harry and Ron making fun of her in the background, Hermione embraced Viktor. It had been a while since she’d seen him- not since their awkward parting after the Triwizard Tournament.

“Vould you like to dance?”

“Sure.”

She spent a bit of time dancing with Viktor, until Ginny broke in.

“Hermione, you know, you’re lucky Bellatrix isn’t here.”

“Mm. She’d either start flaunting around with other people or she’d spontaneously explode.”

“I think the latter would be more interesting.”

“Ginny, you know, as  _ interesting _ as it might be, I might be a bit put out if my girlfriend exploded.”

“Well-”

She was cut off by the arrival of a silvery cat bounding into the room, and, as if they had summoned her by saying her name too many times, Bellatrix’s voice sounded: “The Death Eaters are coming! Scrimgeor’s dead!”

A silver lynx broke apart Bella’s patronus, and delivered the same message, albeit more calmly in Kingsley’s deep voice. Hermione looked at Ginny for a split second, not sure what to do, and Ginny pushed her towards Harry and Ron with a quick, “Go!”

She snapped out of it, running to her table and grabbing her bag as Death Eaters began apparating into the crowd, and people started panicking. “Harry! Ron!”

“Hermione!”

Harry looked stunned, Ron not much better. Grabbing hold of both of them, she turned on the spot and disapparated.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ Are you alright? _

_ Hermione? _

_ Hermione, did you get out okay? _

_ Hermione! _

Bellatrix threw her quill down onto her desk and got up, pacing around the room. She could only hope that Hermione had gotten out of there, but there was no way of knowing if she even got her message, since she’d never actually practiced that charm before. 

She left a quick note on her bed in case Andy and Cissy came looking for her, grabbed her book, and floo’d to the Malfoy’s. Sneaking through the halls, she found her way to the room where the Dark Lord presided in.

“...shall we feed you to Nagini? …. Potter has escaped again?”

Bellatrix relaxed almost instantly. It was not like Potter to leave his friends behind- if he had escaped, Hermione had as well, and besides, if they had managed to capture her she would have heard about it.

Whoever was giving the report began screaming horribly. Suppressing a shudder, Bellatrix stole down the hallway and floo’d back to Black Manor.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione woke up the next morning to the familiar itch at the back of her mind that told her Bella was writing to her. Groaning, she sat up to see Harry and Ron still sleeping on the floor, and heard the sounds of Sirius making breakfast in the kitchen. 

Fumbling around for her beaded bag, she withdrew the book from its depths and opened it up to the most recent page.

_ Hey, just wanted to make sure you’re alright, I figured you got away from the wedding but not sure what happened after that- two Death Eaters were found obliviated in a muggle shop, the Dark Lord was pissed about that, know anything about it? _

**We’re fine. At Grimmauld place right now, Ron and Harry are still sleeping and Sirius is cooking, I think. the men tracked us to the coffee shop somehow, we fought them and wiped their memories.**

_ Oh thank Merlin you’re alright, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS I THOUGHT YOU’D BEEN KILLED OR SOMETHING _

**I’m perfectly fine.**

Hermione smiled- it was just like Bella to go into a frenzy worrying about her.

_ Oh, also, I think I know how they might’ve tracked you- they put a taboo on the Dark Lord’s name, they’re alerted every time someone says it. Good way to track down Order members cause they’re the only ones that say it. _

**That makes sense! Harry said it right before they came in. Look, I’ve got to go, Sirius is calling me in and Harry and Ron are waking up. I’ll write later.**

Shoving the book back in her bag, she got up and went into the kitchen.

“Writing to dear Bella?” Sirius teased, loading up 4 plates. She just rolled her eyes and grabbed a plate, taking it to the table. “The boys up yet?”

“I think-”

As if summoned, Harry and Ron came stumbling in, taking their plates and slumping down to the table. Hermione chuckled. “Are you boys alright?”

“Hnng,” Ron grunted, digging in.

“Well, if you’re both suitably awake, I want to talk to you. I think I’ve figured out how those Death Eaters tracked us- it’s possible that they put a taboo on the Dark Lord’s name, and they’re alerted every time someone says it.”

The boys stared at her in shock. “That actually makes sense! I said it just before they came in!”

“Blimey, that’d be a really good way to track down Order members.”

“Yes, that’s why I thought of it.”

Harry frowned. “Why did you call him the Dark Lord?”

Sirius snorted. “I dunno, Harry, maybe she’s secretly in contact with a Slytherin.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harry scoffed. Hermione had to duck under the table to hide her laughter.

The four of them spent the next few hours going through the house- Sirius had not been there in some time, but had hidden right after the attack on the burrow, as he was now wanted as well as a known member of the order and the guardian of Harry Potter. In his absence, the house had been ransacked- someone had clearly gone through looking for something.

“Hermione! Hermione, come here!”

Sighing, Hermione trudged back up the stairs. “What is it, Harry?”

“Look!”

She peered at the sign, not getting it at first. Then she gasped.

“R.A.B.!”

They looked at each other, wide eyed, before each called out, “SIRIUS!” “RON!”

The two came from wherever they had been searching. “What is it?”

“Sirius, your brother was a death eater, right?”

Sirius immediately got a dark look on his face. “What of it?”

Harry paused, clearly struggling with something. Hermione gave him an encouraging nod- if he couldn’t trust Sirius, he couldn’t trust anyone.

“Sirius, look. Before he died, Dumbledore gave me a job to do….”

By the end of the story, Sirius was pacing around in the hallway, cursing everything under the sun. Suddenly, he stopped. “Kreacher!”

With a crack, Kreacher the house elf appeared. “Master has called for Kreacher, he is back in Mistress’s house with the blood-traitors and mudbloods-”

“Kreacher, Regulus had a locket, it was in this house, did you steal it like you did the other things?”

Kreacher trembled for a moment, before nodding.

Harry perked up. “Do you still have it?”

Kreacher gave a loud sob and shook his head. Harry’s face fell. “Where is it?”

“He stole it!”

“Who?”

“The filthy thief, came in the night and took the pictures, and the Order of Merlin, First Class, and- and- and the locket-”

“Who was it, Kreacher?” Sirius demanded.

“Mundungus Fletcher.”

Sirius cursed. “Damn!”

Sirius did not bother asking Kreacher what had happened with the locket- something told Hermione he did not want to hear what had happened to his brother. Instead, he ordered Kreacher to go find Mundungus Fletcher, and before he left, Harry presented him with the locket they had found, causing him to go into a fit of hysterics.

Later that day, Hermione sat down to relay all of this to Bella, who thought it was rather ironic that both of Walburga’s sons had turned out to be blood traitors. They spent the next hour or so talking about how to get rid of horcruxes, where they might be,  _ what  _ they might be….

“Hermione, what are you writing over there?”

Startled, Hermione slammed the book shut. “Nothing, just brainstorming possible theories.”

The boys nodded, showing once again that they felt it best not to question her. She was about to go back to her book when the front door opened, revealing Remus Lupin.

“Remus!” Sirius exclaimed, going to hug him. “How is everyone?”

“They’re all fine. Everyone got away alright. They didn’t know Harry was there- they tried torturing it out of Scrimgeor, but he wouldn’t tell them.”

Harry looked at him with a mixture of guilt, gratefulness, and confusion. “Has Vol- You-know-who become Minister?”

“No. Pius Thicknesse- he’s imperioused. You-know-who wouldn’t go through all of this to sit behind a desk at the Ministry.”

They spent the next couple of minutes filling each other in on what had happened- quite a lot, considering it had only been a day. Finally, Lupin offered up his help in whatever it was that they were trying to do.

Harry looked like he wanted to say no, but Hermione nudged him. “Harry, we’re going to need help with this, we won’t be able to do it alone. Besides, you’ve already told Sirius.”

Harry bit his lip. “Fine. But we’re not telling anyone else.”

Sirius snorted. “Right. Here that, everyone? No one else can know.” He cast a significant look in Hermione’s direction that told her he knew exactly what she had been writing about in her book.

Lupin had to sit down when he heard about their mission, looking wearier than ever. They all sat together, filling him in on the intricate details of the Horcruxes, only stopping when Kreacher appeared with Mundungus, Dobby in tow.

After a few shouted words (from Sirius, mostly) and whined excuses (Mundungus), they managed to get it out of him that he did, in fact, steal the locket, and had given it away to a Ministry official. 

“Looked like a toad, she did. All dressed in pink, with this awful cardigan-”

Harry dropped his wand to the floor, clenching and unclenching his fist. They all knew what this meant.

Dolores Umbridge was in possession of a Horcrux.


	20. Part 7: Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for implied/referenced nonconsensual touching  
> also torture  
> this isn't a fun chapter  
> i don't own harry potter

Part 7: Chapter 2

“Potter’s broken into the Ministry!”

Bellatrix was seized with a sudden panic as she snatched the paper from Parkinson’s hands. They were sitting at breakfast, 2 days after the start of term- there were less students this year, as muggle borns were not being allowed back at Hogwarts. This meant that Andy was rather miserable, as Tonks was currently on the run with Dean Thomas (at least according to the rumors) and the Creevey brothers were nowhere to be found.

Bellatrix scanned through the paper, with the blazing headline: POTTER BREAKS INTO MINISTRY OF MAGIC, and an article speculating what “criminal activity” he could have been involved in. He had helped nearly 20 muggle borns escape the Ministry, along with two others. They had been unable to identify which one was which, but someone had heard the name “Harry’ being said.

Letting out a shaky breath, Bellatrix set the paper down. She had thought, for an agonising moment, that perhaps they had captured Potter, and where Potter went Hermione followed….

But, no, they were alright, the Ministry was in an uproar trying to figure out how these people had escaped, and Hermione was safe, and that was all that mattered.

Parkinson pulled her closer. “Don’t tell me you’re concerned about Granger.”

Bellatrix frowned. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“She’s a wanted criminal!”

“She’s-”

They were cut off by the arrival of Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. “What do you lot want?”

“What are you two muttering about?” Draco asked suspiciously. Draco had started looking paler and paler as the days went by- Bellatrix couldn’t help but notice that his hands were constantly shaking. “This whole thing with Potter?”

“Yes,” Parkinson snapped. “Now go away, will you?”

Draco looked taken aback. “Well, I- alright, then. Boys, come on.”

“They still let him order them around,” Bellatrix scoffed. “Sometimes I wonder how long it’ll take before they stop.”

Parkinson didn’t answer, instead looking down to where Draco and his cronies were leaving. Bellatrix sighed. Parkinson was absolutely impossible to have a decent conversation with.

Over the next few weeks, it became apparent that Hogwarts was not the same. The Carrows were cracking down hard on certain people, with the help of the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle had finally found a subject they were proficient at- the Cruciatus Curse. As a Slytherin (and a Black) Bellatrix was expected to join in on these practices. She tried to alleviate punishments as much as possible (roping in Parkinson and Greengrass as well), but had had no choice if she wanted to keep her sisters safe from having to do the same thing.

“Bellatrix!” Parkinson called, sitting next to her in the Common Room. “Did you hear? Longbottom, Weasley, and Lovegood tried to break into Snape’s office and steal the sword-”

“Did they get caught?”

“Of course they got caught, they’re in the dungeons-”

“Cover for me!”

“Huh?”

Bellatrix leapt up and ran out of the room. She couldn’t believe they would be so stupid- what could they possibly want the sword for, anyway? Some symbol of defiance? Bloody Gryffindors.

She crept through the dungeons, where the Carrows had taken to keeping students when they were being punished. She shivered a bit at the cold, and peered into each of the cells- they were all empty, except-

“Weaslette!”

“Bellatrix!”

“Black? What are you doing here?”

She took a closer look- she had seen Weaslette because of her distinctive red hair, but now it was apparent that Longbottom and Lovegood were in there as well. Lovegood was unconscious, and Longbottom had a long gash on his cheek.

“Hang on, let me find- aha!” She grabbed the keys from their place on the wall and unlocked the door. “There. You three need to be more careful. You Gryffindors are the most reckless people in the world, I swear-”

“You’re one to talk, Bellatrix,” Weaslette snorted, helping Longbottom pick Lovegood off the floor. “Jump off any staircases recently?”

“That was one time!”

Longbottom scowled at her. “How do we know we can trust her?”

Ginny grinned. “She’s Hermione’s girlfriend.”

Longbottom nearly dropped Lovegood. “She’s  _ what _ ?”

“Her girlfriend. They’ve been dating for 2 years now.”

He looked absolutely bewildered. “But- why didn’t any of us know?”

“None of you ever went to the library,” Bellatrix snorted. “Now, come on, this place gives me the creeps.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione groaned. She was not particularly pleased with the current living arrangements- living in a tent with two boys will always be insufferable. Ron was always having his moods, Harry was constantly sulking about and brooding, and Sirius and Remus had fled Grimmauld Place and were on the run with some other Order members- they got regular updates from them. Her only solace came in the form of near constant messages from Bella- though those weren’t exactly cheery either. She talked of working with Neville and the rest of the D.A., setting people free from the dungeons, pulling off being a double agent- Hermione was constantly telling her to not push herself too much, and was sure that Bella was glossing over a lot of what was happening at Hogwarts. 

She had started thinking about how to get the other Horcruxes. She went through a dozen different options with Bella, theorizing about what the last one was, where they all were, and how to kill them.

_ You know, we could always just use Fiendfyre. _

**And burn down everything around us?**

_ We’d be careful! _

**Bella, give me an example of a time when you have ever been careful.**

**Bella?**

_ Couldn’t think of any. _

**Exactly. Anyway, I’ve been thinking- what if one of them is at Hogwarts? The Dark Lord thought of it as his home for a lot of his life, you know.**

_ Where the hell would it be? There’ve got to be a million places he could’ve hidden it. _

**I bet you could ask a ghost or something, wouldn’t they have known him in school?**

_ HERMIONE! _

**What?**

_ The ghost of Ravenclaw! The Grey Lady! Lovegood said once that she was Rowena’s daughter! _

**Holy shit….**

_ I’ll go find her, be right back! _

Sighing, she stashed the book away, and went to go make them all dinner. 

It wasn’t until much later that night, when Harry and Ron were sleeping as she kept watch, that she got a reply.

_ I’ve found it. _

**What was it? Where was it?**

_ Ravenclaw’s lost diadem. Room of Requirement. Remember when you told me how Potter had hidden his Potion’s book? With the wig and the tiara? It wasn’t a tiara, it was a horcrux, I knew it the second the Grey Lady said he’d hidden it in the Room of Requirement! _

**Brilliant!**

_ So how exactly does one destroy a horcrux? _

**Harry destroyed the one in the diary with a basilisk fang, but we haven’t exactly got any of those lying around.**

_ Yes we have. I’ll pop down to the Chamber of secrets and grab a couple. _

**Bella, you can’t just ‘pop down’ to the chamber of secrets!**

**Bella?**

**Bella!**

Growling, Hermione slammed the book shut, hoping Bellatrix knew what she was doing.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix did not know what she was doing.

She had the diadem safely stored in the pocket of her robes, and was standing in the girl’s bathroom, staring at the sink. Myrtle was floating around her, peering at her curiously. She had tried asking what she was up to, to no avail- Bellatrix wasn’t about to tell anyone what she was doing.

She knew that one could get into the chamber without being a Parselmouth, she had seen McGonagall of all people do it. But that had been 5 years ago, and she had been panicking about Hermione, and she wasn’t sure if she could remember.

Well, nothing to do but try.

Remembering what McGonagall had done, she stepped up to the sink and stared hard at the snake. She let out a strangled hissing sound like the one they had all tried to open up the chamber. To her immense surprise, the entrance opened up.

“Don’t tell me you’re going back down there?”

“Don’t worry, the Basilisk’s dead, I’m just grabbing a few things.”

“Are you insane?”

“Possibly.” Steeling herself, Bellatrix sat on the edge of the long slide. Taking in a breath, she pushed off and slid down.

When she got to the bottom, she began making her way through the hall. There were still traces of the avalanche that had been caused by Lockhart’s memory charm- she stepped through the rocks and approached the large door. 

It was much easier the second time- with little effort, she was stepping through the entrance way to the great chamber with the statue of Salazar Slytherin. The basilisk was still on the floor, twisted around at odd angles and with a wide open gaping mouth. Praying that there was still venom left in the fangs, she pulled one out, and then set the diadem on the chamber floor.

_ Here goes nothing _ .

And with a cleaving motion, she brought the fang down on the Horcrux.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aah!”

“Harry, what is it?”

Harry was writhing in his bed. Ron got up, making his way over. “Harry?”

He took a few deep breaths, controlling the trembling in his hands. Hermione waited with bated breath for what he had to say. “I- I think a horcrux just died. But that doesn’t make any sense-”

He pulled out the locket, which was hanging around his neck. “This one’s still intact.”

“Maybe someone else killed another one?”

“Are you sure about this?” Ron asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, it feels the same as when the diary died- and I felt like this around when Dumbledore must’ve destroyed the ring-”

“Well, that’s great!” Ron grinned. “Another horcrux down!”

Harry frowned. “But how?”

Hermione thought fast. “Fiendfyre. It’s- it’s dark magic, incredibly dangerous, so I’d never try it in case I burned down the whole forest, and us with it, but it can destroy horcruxes. Maybe- maybe someone did it in the vicinity of it, and it was destroyed?”

“But why would someone be doing dark magic like that? And around a horcrux, too.”

_ Think, Hermione, think _ . “Er- well, maybe Harry was right, and there was one at Hogwarts. You know with all the new teachers and rules, they could be teaching students how to do things like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Crabbe or Goyle accidentally let a bit loose and couldn’t stop it in time, and by the time it was done, the horcrux was gone?”

To her great amazement, Harry and Ron looked like they believed this. “That makes sense. So that’s the one at Hogwarts down, right? Now there are only 3 left, including the locket!”

“I bet it was the one from Ravenclaw, too,” Ron said. “Like Harry said, it makes sense that he would’ve planted it there while he was at Hogwarts to ask for a job.”

“Well then,” Harry said. “That was sort of anticlimactic, don’t you think?”

Hermione grinned. “A little bit, yeah.”

The boys went back to bed soon after, and she went back outside. 

**So you destroyed it?**

She waited several minutes for a reply.

_ Yep! Just went down to the chamber- how did you know it was dead? _

**Harry felt it. I managed to convince them that someone did it by accident.**

_ The limited capacity of their brains never ceases to amaze me. _

**Bella, be nice.**

_ Fineeee _

**So what’s left? The snake, the cup, and the locket?**

_ You’ll have to either master fiendfyre or come here to get a basilisk fang, can’t think of any other way to destroy them. _

**We’ll figure that out later, for now we need to find the actual Horcruxes.**

_ Well we know where the snake is, what abt the cup? _

**No idea.**

_ Well that’s bloody perfect. _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon after this incident, Ron left.

Their little group had hit their breaking point- nothing but fighting with icy silences in between. Ron had gotten sick of it, all the searching, and learning that they had to go chase after the sword of Gryffindor was the catalyst to this. She and Harry continued on alone, Harry still heartened by the fact that they had one less horcrux to destroy. 

She should have known that going to Godric’s Hollow was a horrible idea. It had been so clearly and obviously a trap, but she hadn’t been able to get the possibility of the Sword of Gryffindor being stashed there out of her head.

Of course, it went terribly. Bathilda Bagshot hadn’t even been  _ alive _ , and certainly didn’t have the sword. She and Harry had nearly died, escaping Voldemort by a narrow margin, and she’d accidentally broken Harry’s wand, leaving them with one to share between them. 

It was also a complete waste of time- they’d gotten nothing from it except for a rather informational book about Dumbledore and the opportunity to visit the Potter’s graves.

They spent the next couple of days wandering aimlessly- Hermione still feeling guilty for breaking Harry’s wand- and ended up in the Forest of Dean.

Harry went out to keep a lookout, and she pulled out her book to talk to Bella, as she would be home for the holidays and might have picked some information up from her father.

**How’s it going over there?**

_ Not great :(. The Dark Lord’s having this ball tomorrow, should be absolutely horrid, but I’ll try to see if I can’t use it to my advantage. Anything exciting going on over there? _

**We visited Godric’s Hollow- saw Bathilda Bagshot, except she was dead and being animated by dark magic/ nagini the snake, and she tried to kill us and I accidentally broke Harry’s wand.**

_ Bloody hell, Hermione. _

**Hey, Harry’s calling for me, got to go.**

_ :((((((( _

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Andy, tie the dress up, will you?”

“No.”

“Andy….”

“Alright, fine!”

Bellatrix scowled as Andy tightened her dress. She’d been doing that a lot lately (scowling), as the… circumstances she was in had her in a perpetually bad mood. Her sisters weren’t doing much to help with this- Andy was stressing her out by running around with the DA (though, to be fair, she was also doing this, but she had never wanted her sister to get involved), and Cissy was, while not associating herself with the members of the DA, very discreetly running schemes of her own that could very well get her killed. It seemed that all of the Black sisters were determined to outdo each other in terms of resistance (Bellatrix, of course, was winning, as she had been doing this for 7 years and still going strong.)

She was not looking forward to this ball that the Dark Lord was throwing. All of his Death Eaters would be there- the scum of Wizarding Society, basically. Both Rodolphus  _ and _ her father would be there (her least favorite people), as well as other sickos like Fenrir Greyback and Abraxas Malfoy and even the Dark Lord himself. She couldn’t believe her mother was actually letting her younger sisters attend the ball, although she shouldn’t be surprised seeing as her mother had never actually done anything for them in their lives.

Malfoy Manor, being the current base of operations for the Death Eaters, was a bit… messy, to Lucius’s eternal chagrin (he was the type of boy who very much preferred being clean). As such, they were holding the more  _ formal _ events (aka, the ones that involved things that didn’t have to do with killing or torturing, not that those things wouldn’t happen as the night went on) at Black Manor. 

So, Bellatrix, Andy, and Cissy didn’t have to do anything except descend the staircases into the great ballroom, which was already filled with most of their  _ esteemed _ guests- the Dark Lord was seated at the end of the table, and she fought back a grin when she saw her father’s face, clearly displeased with seating arrangements.

Bellatrix and her sisters spent the dinner in silence. They weren’t expected to socialize anyway- most Death Eaters, being traditionalists, had a very “speak when spoken to” attitude about children, or more specifically girls. She found it extraordinarily awkward to sit across from Severus Snape, who she was sure knew more about her private life at school than she would like, and could at any moment divulge the details of her relationship with Hermione. When he did not do this, she tried offering him garlic bread (she was nothing if not determined), which he turned down several times. How could Hermione not see that he was so obviously a vampire?

And then came the socializing section. Bellatrix tried to hang around the Dark Lord, because if she was going to get any worthwhile information, it would be by listening to his conversations. Cissy definitely took notice of this- Andy was too busy making a nuisance of herself with the hope of being sent to bed early. She could feel Cissy’s eyes on her as she lurked around at the edge of conversations, probably itching to call her a hypocrite. 

The Dark Lord had just pulled her father aside to have a “talk”. She edged toward them, and had just gotten within hearing range when an arm snaked around her waist and pulled her away. “It’s been a while, Bella. Been avoiding me?”

She wanted to scream in frustration. At this point, she was almost immune to Rodolphus’s advances- now, the only thing she had a problem with was the fact that that conversation between her father and the Dark Lord looked awfully important.

“Rodolphus, c’mon. Let me go.”

“No. You’re gonna come over here with me.”

Gritting her teeth, she let him drag her over to where some of his Death Eater friends were waiting- Greyback, Scabior, Rabastan, the worst apples at the bottom of a rotten barrel.

Well, she reflected, maybe she wasn’t  _ completely _ immune to this kind of thing, and she decided it would be in her best interests to zone out for the rest of the night.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Narcissa prided herself on being observant. She had noticed before going to Hogwarts that both of her sisters were hiding something. She had noticed that Bellatrix seemed happier than usual right before she found out that she had gotten a date with Granger. And she had noticed that Andy was up to something, and when she demanded to know where she was going, she had ended up helping the DA fight off Death Eaters.

These observations tended to get her in trouble. She would never admit it, but Bellatrix was right, she very well could have been killed running after a murderous Death Eater. Of course, this wouldn’t stop her from doing anything- Blacks, in general, were known for being competitive, and while Narcissa was usually very reserved, she was first and foremost a Black. And if her sisters were going to run around being reckless idiots, she was going to outdo them.

Today, her observations were less than pleasant. Bellatrix had been listening in on conversations all night, something that was even riskier than anything Narcissa had ever done. The Dark Lord had struck up a conversation with her father, and Bellatrix clearly thought it was important, because she cast a longing look over her shoulder as Rodolphus dragged her away to do things Narcissa did not enjoy thinking about with her sister. 

And, well, being a Black, Narcissa really had no choice but to be just as risky as her sister.

She edged over to where her father was standing with the Dark Lord under the guise of going to speak to Lucius. She let him ramble on about Quidditch or whatever it was that he was obsessing about these days, and tuned in on the conversation happening behind her.

“My Lord. I hope all is well?”

“Of course all is well, Cygnus. And I would not inform you if it weren’t.”

“Of course, my Lord. What was it you wanted to discuss?”

Merlin, she absolutely despised the tone her father used when talking to the Dark Lord- if he wasn’t careful, he would turn into Abraxas- but it was loads better than the one he used with her and her sisters (more specifically Bella).

“The… object I asked you to place in your vault. I entrusted a similar object to Abraxas, and I just learned that he was careless with it, something I was very displeased with. I trust you were not similarly irresponsible?”

“No, my Lord. It is still safely in my vault.”

“Good. Do not remove it. It is of the utmost importance.”

“Of course, my Lord.”

“Narcissa? What do you think?”

“Hmm?” She snapped back to her (one sided) conversation with Lucius. 

“I asked if you thought I would make a better Seeker than Draco.”

_ Both of you combined wouldn't be a decent Seeker _ , she thought snidely. “Of course you would, Lucius.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Granger!

**Who is this?**

Narcissa. Bella’s off with Rodolphus, she probably won’t be back for a while, and I had to tell you something. She wouldn’t be happy if she knew I knew.

Hermione bit her lip, immediately feeling anxious about literally everything about that sentence. What could possibly be so urgent that Narcissa couldn’t wait to tell her? Why would she not want Bella to know? Would she have to murder Rodolphus for putting his filthy hands on her girlfriend?

**What is it?**

Well, I was listening in on a conversation between our father and the Dark Lord.

**I can see why you wouldn’t want Bella to know** .

In my defense, she was listening in on all his conversations at first, but she got dragged away. Anyway, the Dark Lord was asking our father if the thing he entrusted to him was still in his vault, because he had given something similar to Abraxas and he had been “careless” with it. Our father said it was still there. It seemed like it was very important to the Dark Lord, and I thought you might like to know since you’re trying to kill him.

**How did you know that? Hey, how did you know about this book? Did Bella tell you?**

Bella doesn’t tell me anything.

**But how do you know all of this?**

I know everything.

**Er. Okay then. Well, thank you for the information.**

You’re welcome.

Slightly taken aback by this exchange, Hermione closed her book and leaned her head back against the tent. Ron had come back just the day before, and she was still rather mad at him (though she was distracted by worry over what Bella might be doing). Both of the boys were sleeping inside, unaware of her plotting to take down the Dark Lord.

It was certainly news that the Dark Lord had given something to Cygnus Black to put in his vault. She knew it wasn’t the sword of Gryffindor, as Snape had given it to him. In fact, the only thing it could be was a Horcrux, which would make sense, as Cygnus was one of his more trusted followers, and was part of a wealthy Wizarding family, something the Dark Lord had likely always envied.

She would need to figure out a way to tell Harry this, as she couldn’t very well say, “Narcissa Black told me”. She decided she would play it off as a random guess, though it would be a chore to convince the boys it was a good idea to break into Gringotts on a hunch.

Not to mention it was supposed to be impossible to break into Gringotts.

Putting her book aside, she buried her head in her hands and thought hard about what to do.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ _ Deprimo! _ ”

She shouted out the spell, causing the floor to collapse beneath their feet and sending them falling to the floor. Once the Death Eaters got a glimpse of Harry, she twisted around in midair, and apparated them to the first place she could think of.

Harry and Ron both looked rather impressed when she explained the reasoning behind her quick plan- making sure Ron was not seen for the sake of his family, and making sure Harry  _ was _ seen for the sake of Mr. Lovegood. She got them all set up as Harry brooded over the discovery of the Hallows.

He continued to do this for several weeks. Ron ended up taking charge of the operation, trying to make up for the time when he’d left them. She decided to use his newfound fervor to her advantage.

“C’mon, where have we not checked? What would’ve been important to him?”

“What about Gringotts?”

This brought even Harry into the conversation. “Gringotts? He probably never even stepped foot in it.”

“But that’s exactly it! He would’ve viewed it as a symbol of power, of a place in Wizarding society that he didn’t have! And he probably would’ve given it to one of his Death Eaters, like he did with the diary!”

To her amazement, the boys immediately latched onto this, the first time Harry had been engaged in a discussion since their visit to the Lovegoods.

“Which Death Eater, though?”

“Well, it would have to be someone really loyal. What about Cygnus Black?”

This time, when they agreed wholeheartedly, it was not exactly to her amazement- both Harry and Ron hated both Cygnus and Bellatrix Black with a passion, and were quick to label them as horrible people.

“Of course! The last horcrux must be in his vault!”

“Wait a minute,” Harry sighed. Oh, no, this wasn’t what she needed- she needed them to agree with her and not question her logic, usually because it involved help from Bella (or, in this case, Narcissa). “We can’t just break into Gringotts on a hunch.” There it was. She should’ve expected it, really, she couldn’t keep relying on their complete trust in her ideas forever.

“Alright then. We’ll just- keep the option in mind, if we ever get really desperate.”

“Fine.”

And he went back to brooding about Hallows.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say Bellatrix was furious would be an understatement.

She had already been having a horrible day- Rodolphus and his friends had roughed her up quite a bit (nothing they hadn’t done before, really, but it had gone on for a rather long time)- and then she found out that her little sister had gone around eavesdropping on the Dark Lord.

Of course, the information she’d gotten had been more than useful. She and Hermione had spent several hours brainstorming how to get it out of the vault and destroying it, and had come up with some wild ideas. Hermione seemed eager to thank Narcissa for completely reckless behavior, but Bellatrix was not so forgiving. She was rather annoyed that after her lecture the year before, she still went around doing dangerous things that could very well get her killed.

The following weeks at Hogwarts were miserable. The Carrows were cracking down harder than ever, and Lovegood had gone missing, something that bothered her even if she would never admit it- she rather liked Lovegood, a good deal better than Longbottom, at least, as he still held a level of distrust towards her. People were starting to lose hope as punishments got worse and worse, and she had started to take on a lot more in terms of setting people loose and distracting the Professors long enough to let people get away. It was exhausting, frankly.

Not to mention, Parkinson and Greengrass had attached themselves to her like a pair of leeches, and had started joining in (secretly) on the DA’s schemes. She never told Longbottom or Weaslette where she got her extra help, and they never questioned it. She was a bit suspicious, to be honest- Parkinson and Greengrass had never before had a moral compass, why would they just now be developing one? (Of course, Bellatrix did not think of the simple explanation that people usually grow moral compasses when horrible things are happening until Hermione pointed it out to her).

Even worse, her father had insisted upon her making weekly “visits” with Rodolphus at the school, something most likely suggested by Rodolphus himself. She neglected to inform Hermione of this development- she would likely not take it very well, and might storm the castle to murder Rodolphus and everyone involved. And while Bellatrix would enjoy that, it would probably get her girlfriend thrown in Azkaban.

By the time February was drawing to a close, things were starting to look really depressing. Rumor had it that Dirk Cresswel had died, along with a goblin named Gornuk- Andy had been rather distressed, as they were supposed to have been traveling with Tonks and Thomas. Just the other week, Hannah Abbott had spread hysterical rumors around that Sirius Black had been killed- Bellatrix quickly assured people that he was alive and well, and was gallivanting around the countryside with Remus Lupin. Everyone was trying to tune in to PotterWatch to get their information, which was rather difficult, as every common room except the Slytherins was being monitored. Luckily, Bellatrix, Andy, Cissy, and even Parkinson and Greengrass were all in Slytherin and more than willing to listen in and get information out.

When March rolled around and it was finally time for Easter Break, things really went to shit.

Her father had insisted that they all stay at Malfoy Manor, as Lucius was newly engaged to Cissy (to Bellatrix’s eternal chagrin, though Cissy seemed okay with it, seeing as Lucius was  _ actually her age _ , a miracle in and of itself), Rodolphus was staying there (though he was out of the house more often than not, going muggle hunting or torturing people and whatnot), and his “work” was located there.

She unfortunately spent a great deal of time with Draco, who looked absolutely miserable with all the Dark Lords and creepy Death Eaters living in his house. She found lots of new blackmail material, as his mother coddled him to death (and called him “my little dragon”, even though he was 17 years old, she couldn’t  _ wait _ to tell Parkinson). They were trying to do some homework (it was nowhere near the same as doing it with Hermione, Draco had the mental capacity of a flobberworm) when Madam Malfoy called them down to the drawing room.

They met Andy, Cissy, and Lucius on the way down- damn those curious kids. Bellatrix could have sworn her heart stopped when she saw what was waiting for them.

A group of Snatchers, holding a group tied up together, made up of Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and-

_ Hermione _ .

“Draco! Come!”

Draco looked just as shocked as she was. She turned to see Andy with a similar expression on her face, looking at Tonks with a completely horrified expression.

“Draco, look closely now,” Abraxas was saying. “Is that Potter?”

Draco paled, and Bellatrix realized that if she could recognize Potter, Draco definitely would, as they spent the majority of their Hogwarts years glaring at each other from across the Great Hall.

She braced herself for the inevitable, and nearly started in shock when Draco said, “I can’t tell.”

Her father sneered. “Perhaps we can get a better perspective. Bellatrix!”

Fucking  _ shit _ . “What?”

“Tell me.” He grabbed her by the robes and brought her over to their little group. “Can you recognize him?”

Bellatrix, never one to be outdone by Draco, sneered, “Father, why on earth would I spend time looking at Potter? In this state, I wouldn’t be able to recognize him.”

He rolled his eyes, gripping her robes harder. “What about the girl? Is she the mudblood?”

“There are a lot of m-mudbloods in the world.”

“The Granger girl!” He looked terrifying now- he was shaking her as he turned her to look at them.

Abraxas stepped forward. “Yes, Draco, that is surely the mudblood Granger?”

“I- maybe. I can’t be sure.”

“It’s close enough!” her father snapped, releasing her and letting his hand drift to his arm. “We must call the Dark L- what is that?”

He was staring, bug eyed, at a sword in the hands of one of the Snatchers.

“Sword,” he grunted. Well, yeah, no shit.

“Where did you get it?”

“Found it in their tent. Reckon it’s mine now.”

Before she could blink, her father had stunned several Snatchers, including the one holding the sword. “Cygnus-”

“Shut up, Abraxas. I need to think. We can’t call the Dark Lord now, or he will be furious with us….”

As he turned to pace, Bellatrix caught sight of the inside of his belt, and got a sudden idea. 

“Greyback. Put all the prisoners in the cellar. Except the mudblood girl.”

Bellatrix perked up, knowing it was horrible that she hoped it was Hermione, but she couldn’t tell the boys her plan. Weasley was not happy with this development. “No! Take me-”

“If she dies under questioning, I’ll take you. Blood-traitor is next to mudblood in my books.” Oh, Merlin, she completely forgot about Weasley. Weaslette wouldn’t be coming back to Hogwarts after break.

She tried to catch Hermione’s eye as she was thrown to the floor. She got her chance when she looked up at her, and Bellatrix gestured frantically to her waist, around where a belt would be, and then pointed at her father. Hermione’s eyes narrowed, and then widened when she saw the items dangling off of her father’s belt.

“Where did you get this sword?”

“We found it-”

“Crucio!”

Bellatrix flinched as Hermione let out a long, horrible scream, and Weasley started screaming from the cellar.

“HERMIONE! HERMIONE!”

Draco had backed up against the wall, face pale. Lucius was gripping his hand, and after a second, Draco covered his eyes.

Not a bad idea, she thought, bringing Cissy closer to her. Cissy, who looked like she might pass out, burrowed into her chest, and Bellatrix covered up her ears as Hermione let out another ear splitting scream. She vaguely felt Andy gripping the side of her robes.

This went on for a few more antagonizing minutes, and Bellatrix thought she might throw up if it went on any longer. Her father had taken out his favorite knife and was carving Merlin knows what into her arm. Hermione was flickering in and out of consciousness, and Bellatrix could only hope she had managed to grab it.

This hope was dashed when she saw everything still intact when her father stood up to order that the goblin be brought up. She sighed in relief when the goblin lied to her father’s face about the sword, and almost laughed aloud when Potter and Weasley came rushing up the stairs and disarmed her father.

In the ensuing battle, she disarmed her mother and saw Andy taking care of Mrs. Malfoy. “Stop! Stop or she dies!”

Bellatrix almost dropped her wand on instinct before realizing that she wasn’t actually supposed to be on Potter’s side. Draco rushed to pick up the wands before going to stand by the side. Her father had Hermione pinned up against him, knife to her throat. Hermione looked pretty out of it, though she could’ve sworn she saw her hand dip behind her.

There was an ominous creaking sound, and Bellatrix looked up just in time to see a house elf sitting on a chandelier. Her father dropped Hermione and she hit the floor just as glass spewed everywhere. Draco doubled over, hands covering his face, and his mother rushed to help him. Bellatrix knew she didn’t have much time as Weasley rushed to help Hermione, so she ran at them under the guise of trying to stop them, and very much on purpose slipped on the glass strewn over the floor. She landed right next to Hermione, pulling hair from her head at the same time and slipping it into her hand. 

Weasley scooped Hermione off of the ground and apparated away with her. Bellatrix groaned, feeling the glass digging into her from the ground, and slumped down. Her father shouted in fury, and Potter was whisked away from Malfoy Manor, right out from under their noses.


	21. Part 7: Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for some mentions of violence (not too graphic/detailed but it's there)  
> i don't own harry potter

Part 7: Chapter 3

Ron immediately led her up to the cottage, screaming for help. Harry followed close behind with Dobby, carrying him up to make it go faster. She could barely feel her legs, and felt extremely weak. Her nerves were completely frayed from the numerous crucio’s, and her arm ached from-

_ No _ , she told herself,  _ let’s not think about that right now. _

She let herself be handed off to Fleur, who whisked her off to a side room, yelling instructions for someone to get her some healing supplies. She prayed to whoever was listening that Fleur knew what she was doing- she knew she was a remarkable witch, but not everyone knew much about healing spells.

She was in luck- while not a professional Healer, Fleur had a good idea of what to do, and Hermione was soon regaining feeling back in her limbs and had stopped shaking. 

As soon as she could (much to Fleur’s annoyance) she was up and walking over to talk to Harry and Ron, who were brooding on the couch. 

“We can’t send Griphook to Muriel’s yet, we need to talk to him.”

“No we don’t, Harry.”

“Hermione!” They both leapt up and went to help her down onto a chair. She wanted to snap at them that she wasn’t an invalid, but she knew they needed to reassure themselves that she was alright.

“What did you mean, we don’t need to talk to Griphook?”

“I know you want to get into Gringotts, Harry. But I’ve got a much better way to do that.”

“What?”

She smiled. This was the part she absolutely loved- the shocked look on their faces when they realized that she had already solved anything, and their inability to piece together the fact that she had help.

“Well, think about it. You don’t need to rob Gringotts if you’re a member of the Black family and you have the key.”

Harry’s mouth dropped. “You’re a member of the Black family?”

“No, Harry.” Honestly, he could be so dense at times. “But I can look like one.”

“Huh?”

“We’ve still got some Polyjuice, right?”

“Well, yeah, but you’d need hair!”

She smiled. “Remember when Bellatrix tried to stop us and slipped on the glass and landed very conveniently next to me?”

Their eyes widened. “You got some of her hair?!”

Practically handed it to me, actually. “Yes, I did.”

“But what about the key?”

Grinning now, she dug around in her pocket and pulled out a tiny golden key that she’d swiped from Cygnus’s belt.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They allowed themselves a few weeks to rest before going forward with their plan. This had a strategic point to it- it gave the Death Eaters time to let their guard down. They had sent Griphook off to Muriel’s with Olivander, as he was completely unneeded in this plan.

Talking to Bella (after she made sure countless times that she was alright, and resting, and not pushing herself, and eating properly, because Bella’s favorite activity was doting on her relentlessly), Hermione learned that Ginny had not come back after Easter (something she already knew), and that Neville had recently hidden out in the Room of Requirement. She would not be joining him, but had demanded that both of her sisters do so- the situation at Hogwarts was getting more and more dangerous. She also learned that Cygnus had  _ neglected _ to tell anyone that his key had been stolen (although according to Bella, it was a spare), as it would’ve only brought him more torture (and more for his family, though he couldn’t care less about that, and, Merlin, Hermione wasn’t usually a violent person but she couldn’t wait until someone killed the bastard)- though it was also possible that Cygnus, in all the confusion, hadn’t noticed the missing key at all. 

Finally, the day arrived. Hermione slipped Bellatrix’s hair into the Polyjuice Potion and gulped it down. She shrunk a few inches (something she would be teasing Bella about) and felt her hair bunching up (Bella’s hair was even curlier than hers, something she hadn’t thought possible). She changed into the clothes Fleur had gotten them, all black, as Bella usually liked her wardrobe.

It wasn’t much effort to get into character, as she knew Bella as well as she knew herself. It felt odd to have her slightly lower voice come out when she talked, and she reminded herself to adopt all of Bella’s speaking mannerisms (which mostly consisted of complaining).

She transfigured Ron, made sure Harry was secure under the cloak, and apparated away. 

They appeared in an alleyway off of the main road. The three of them made their way out, walking down Diagon Alley before they were interrupted by a familiar face.

“Bella. How lovely to see you.” She cursed under her breath as she turned to face Rodolphus Lestrange. “What brings you out to Diagon Alley?”

“Gringotts. And father wanted me to bring his new friend with me, get him acquainted and all that.”

“Really? Who is he?”

“Dragomir Despard. From Transylvania. He speaks little English, but he is sympathetic to the Dark Lord’s cause.”

“How are you today?”

Ron grunted out, “‘Ow you?” and stuck out his hand. Rodolphus shook it gingerly.

They continued down the street, Rodolphus looping his arm around her waist and running his hand along her side. It took all of her willpower to keep herself from hexing him- she had no idea how Bella could stand it.

When they finally got to Gringotts, Rodolphus parted with them (thank god) with a, “I’ll see you in a few days for our weekly meeting, yes?”

_ Weekly meeting _ ? Before she could respond, he was gone.

She was left to stew on this as they approached the goblin at the desk. Bellatrix had never mentioned anything about a weekly meeting with Rodolphus. She resolved to confront her about it later.

They got through the security easily enough- she let out a sigh of relief when it turned out that Bella had been right when she said she didn’t think Cygnus had reported it, or even noticed it was missing in the aftermath.

Things went downhill when they actually got to the vault, and it was able to sense that she was not, in fact, Bellatrix Black. The minute she touched something, it grew hot in her hand and jumped up, starting to jitter around on the floor.

The goblin with them immediately stepped back, and Harry ripped off the invisibility cloak, knowing that their cover was blown anyway. “Stupefy!” The goblin was knocked back, unconscious. “Let’s look for the Horcrux!”

Hermione raced around, trying not to touch anything, but it was a rather difficult task, as they were in a hurry- she must’ve set off some sort of alarm. In a matter of minutes, the floor was covered with trinkets dancing wildly all over the place, making it hard to walk around.

“There!”

Hermione drew the sword from her bag as Harry made his way over to the Horcrux, sitting on a high shelf. Ron yelped and jumped back, scrambling away from the gold on the floor. “It’s hot!”

He was right- everything in the room was growing steadily hotter the longer they stayed in here, emitting an odd sort of steam and making it hard to breathe. “Quickly, Harry!”

“I’ve got it!”

He tossed it to her, and she caught it, then dropped it on the floor- the Horcrux had not been exempt from the curses set on the vault. Before it could get away from her, she did the first thing she could think of- lifting the sword above her head, she brought it down on the cup.

Harry yelled out, feeling the Horcrux die, but they had no time to dwell on this- gathering them up, she led them out of the room, where they could see goblins and Death Eaters converging on them and shooting spells.

“Who’s got an idea?” Harry yelled.

Hermione took a deep breath. They were at the right height, and they could  _ probably _ make it, but oh, boy, the boys were not going to like this….

Without waiting to think about why this was a horrible idea, she leapt onto the back of the dragon.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ HERMIONE HOLY SHIT IF WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING IS TRUE THEN YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO CRITICIZE ME FOR DOING ANYTHING RECKLESS EVER AGAIN. _

_ So is it true? _

**Yes.**

_ OH DEAR SWEET MORGANA HOW WAS IT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO RIDE ON A DRAGON. _

_ Also that was reckless, Hermione, but also WOW WOW WOW! _

**In case you were wondering, we killed the horcrux.**

_ Oh. Great. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DRAGON!!! _

**The Dark Lord knows that we’re after Horcruxes, he’s going to Hogwarts to check and we’re going to meet him there.**

_ REALLY??? Holy shitt, but, wait, how??????? _

**We’re planning on using the passageway from Honeydukes cellar.**

_ NO! All the secret entrance ways are blocked off except for one. Go to the Hogs Head, talk to Aberforth, he’ll get you through to Longbottom. _

Hermione looked up from her book. “Hermione! What are you doing, we have to go!”

“Fine. I’ll apparate us?”

Harry nodded, and she linked arms with him and Ron. Thinking hard about the Hogs Head, a place she had only been once or twice, she twisted on the spot.

They appeared on the street, and Harry looked around, confused. “Why are we-”

“Get in here! No time to explain!”

She ushered them into the bar as an alarm went off on the streets. “Mr. Dumbledore!”

“ _ Dumbledore? _ ”

“Who’s there?”

“Mr. Dumbledore! We need to get to Hogwarts, we heard you have a secret passageway in-”

“There’s a  _ what _ ?”

“Quiet, Ron. Can you help us, and quickly?”

Harry chose that moment to slump against her. “He’s going to find the locket.”

“We need to go, now!”

The man frowned at them, an expression that looked odd on his face, so similar to Dumbledore’s. He nodded shortly and led them behind the bar.

There was a large picture of a young girl who turned and walked out of her portrait when she saw them coming. Aberforth gave them some food and drink, which they gratefully took.

“Who’s that? Coming back with her?”

Hermione peered closely into the portrait, but was not able to make out who the second figure was before it swung open, revealing a battered and bruised Neville Longbottom.

“I knew you’d come!  _ I knew it, Harry! _ ”

“What- how-”

Neville, still grinning, didn’t answer Harry’s stutters and went over to hug her and Ron. “I kept telling Seamus it was only a matter of time!”

“Neville, what happened to you?” Harry asked, finding his voice.

“Oh, this is nothing. Seamus is worse. Oh, hey, Ab, there might be a couple more coming through.”

“A couple more? With a Caterwauling charm and Death Eaters prowling the streets?”

“That’s why they’ll be apparating right into the bar. Just send them through when they come, alright? C’mon, you guys!”

Neville led them into the passageway. “I don’t remember seeing this on the Marauder’s Map.” Neville launched into a detailed explanation of what had happened.

“-and I was running from the Carrows, and I knew I had one option, and Black managed to distract them long enough to get me to the room of Requirement! C’mon, it’s just through here!”

“I told you guys he would come.”

Hermione was suddenly engulfed with people, patting her on the back and screaming out their names- mostly Harry’s, but she heard a few “Hermione”s here and there. Looking around, she saw an odd assortment of lanterns and hammocks hanging from the ceiling. Neville and the others were talking about how the room had come to be- she saw Lavender, and Seamus, and the Patil twins. There were hangings from all four houses, and Harry and Ron looked distrustingly at the Slytherin banners, under which the only two people were Andy and Narcissa, and the latter was sending proud looks at whoever sent a glance her way.

“So what’s the plan?”

Harry looked at the person who had said that. “You-Know-Who’s going to be coming to the castle. Once he finds out that I’m here, he’ll likely bring the rest of his army. We’re going to go find the teachers and we’re going to stop him. However we can.”

This caused a cheer to start up around the room, everyone eager to do  _ something _ after weeks of waiting around in the Room of Requirement. Neville excitedly started sending out a signal to the other DA members from his coin.

“Alright, we need to get everyone in the school to the Great Hall, get the younger students out and find anyone else that wants to fight. Who wants to come with me to the teacher’s lounge?”

“I’ll go!” Luna said. “You’ve got your invisibility cloak, right?” Hermione took a double take- she hadn’t noticed Luna come in.

“Right. Hermione, Ron, you stay here and try to find out as much as you can about what’s going on, fill in everyone that comes. We’ll come back when we’ve taken out the Carrows and it’s safe to come out.”

“Be safe, you two!” she called as they left the room.

“Hermione!”

“Ginny!”

“Hey, Dean!”

“ _ Ted _ !”

Ginny, Dean Thomas, and Ted Tonks all walked in at the same time. She went to hug Ginny, but was brushed aside by Seamus, who was practically run over by Andy, who flung herself into Ted’s arms and kissed him full on the mouth.

“You’d better not let Bella know about that.” Hermione turned to find Narcissa standing by her side. “She might murder Tonks.”

Ron made a face. “Bellatrix? I don’t see her here. She join up with the Carrows in torturing students?”

She opened her mouth to admonish him, but got cut off by the entire Weasley family. “Ginny! We told you to wait up for us!”

“Ronniekins!”

Fred and George leapt forward to hug their brother. “You’re still scrawny as ever, I see.”

“Thanks, Fred.”

“I’m Fred. He’s George. I think you look lovely, Ronniekins. Not nearly as scrawny as Harry.”

“Where is he, anyway?” Bill asked. 

“Off to warn the teachers.”

“‘E is going around in ze castle by ‘imself?” Fleur asked.

“Luna went with him,” Hermione said. “Listen, is anyone else-”

“The party is here, folks!” The Weasleys stepped aside as Sirius and Remus stepped through, looking a little worse for wear but perfectly intact and healthy. “Padfoot, the almighty king of-”

“We get it, Black, you’ve got a great big ego, now move out of the way!” growled Mad-Eye as he stumped through the door. “Listen up, everyone! You-Know-Who’s going to be storming the castle, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. What are we waiting for, then?”

“For Harry to come back with confirmation that Snape and the Carrow’s are out of here so they can’t alert the Dark Lord that the Order is here.”

“ _ The Dark Lord _ ?” chorused Fred and George. “Why do you call him the Dark Lord?”

“Er….” She hadn’t even realized that was something she had picked up from her conversations with Bella.

“Hello! Hope we’re not too late….” The old Gryffindor Quidditch team came through the portrait hole, led by Oliver Wood and holding broomsticks. 

“Hey! Wood!” shouted Fred.

“Gonna give us a hundred step plan on defeating You-Know-Who?”

“Complete with 5 diagrams?”

“Shove off, you two,” Wood said, grinning. “Where’s Harry?”

“Off warning the Professors-”

“Well, this is quite the set up.”

“Oh, hello, Kingsley!” Mrs. Weasley said, going to greet him. “Everyone’s been arriving-”

“What’s going on?”

“Harry!”

“We called all the members of the DA. Order of the Phoenix started showing up, it all snowballed from there.”

“What’s happening, Harry?” asked George. “What’s first?”

“They’re evacuating all the younger students. Everyone’s going to the Great Hall to organize.” The words hadn’t even left his mouth when there was a great roar, and everyone rushed out of the room.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry joined up with Ron and Hermione somewhere in between the room of requirement and the Great Hall, as it was so crowded it was nearly impossible to get through to them. “I talked to McGonagall, she’s going to organize defenses. With any luck, Voldemort will come with the snake, and we can kill it. In the meantime we’re going to take out as many Death Eaters as possible.”

“Sounds like a plan, mate!” Ron cheered, clapping him on the back.

By the time they got to the Great Hall, most of the school was already there, and McGonagall was organizing an evacuation.

“What if we want to stay and fight?” asked Ernie MacMillan, standing up from his place at the Hufflepuff table.

“Anyone over the age of 17 may stay, but everyone underage must evacuate.”

“What about our things? Owls, clothes?”

“Right now the most important thing is your safety.”

“Where’s Professor Snape?”

“He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk.”

Cheers erupted from the first three tables.

McGonagall continued talking, but was drowned out by a high pitched voice, speaking as if magnified by a hundred.

When Voldemort delivered his message, the entire school stared at him in shock. Pansy Parkinson opened her mouth, as if to say something, then closed it. Theodore Nott stood up. “Potter’s right there! Someone grab him!”

To Harry’s surprise, nearly the entire hall got to their feet and pointed their wands not at Harry, but at Nott. 

“Thank you, Mr. Nott,” said Professor McGonagall. “You and your house can be the first to leave with Mr. Filch.”

Nearly all of the Slytherins got up and left, leaving only three people: Bellatrix Black, Pansy Parkinson, and Daphne Greengrass. Black seemed to be deep in argument with the other two, trying to get them to leave, but this only made them more insistent, and something that Black said caused Millicent Bulstrode to stay behind with them, albeit reluctantly.

The rest of the hall cleared out, leaving behind a great number of students. McGonagall started going between them, sending certain students away, as they were underage.

“Andromeda and Narcissa Black, get your arses over here right now!”

Every head in the hall turned towards Bellatrix Black, who was staring at her sisters in a state of fury.

“We want to stay and fight!” Andromeda declared, stamping her foot for good measure.

“Me too!” said Ted Tonks, linking arms with her.

“Absolutely not!” Bellatrix shrieked. “All three of you are underage, you’re going to go with the rest of the students  _ right this instant _ or I’ll-”

“I’m not really sure,” interrupted Harry, stepping forward, “why we should let you stay either.”

Bellatrix gave him an unimpressed look. “Potter, there is nothing you can do to stop me from staying here and fighting.”

“Your father is a Death Eater!”

“Drop it, Harry.” To his amazement, Sirius stepped forward. “If my crazy cousin wants to stay and get herself killed, so be it.”

“Thank you for the sentiment, Sirius,” she drawled. “Bulstrode, I can tell you don’t really want to be here, so go escort my sisters and Tonks to the evacuation point. Make sure they get out safely, will you?”

Bulstrode nodded, and went to grab the three students by the arm. They could hear their protests from all the way down the hall.

“Now, where should we be positioned?”

“Hold on a moment. I don’t think that this is a good idea,” Ron said. “You three shouldn’t be here-”

“We’re staying!” said Pansy. “We’ve done just as much as most of these people to fight against the Carrows!”

“You’ve done what?” Neville asked, staring incredulously.

Bellatrix shrugged. “You can’t have thought I did all of that by myself, did you?”

Neville chuckled. “Good point.”

“You actually trusted them to help you?” Harry demanded.

“Harry, stop it!” Everyone turned to Hermione, who had stepped forward, arms crossed. She seemed to realize that everyone was looking at her with expressions varying from outright glee to thinly veiled interest, and rolled her eyes before turning to Bellatrix.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Bellatrix ran forward. Harry fumbled to draw his wand, but stopped as Hermione gathered her up in her arms and kissed her.

Ron had a completely dumbstruck expression on his face, and Harry had much the same. “ _ What _ ?” he croaked out, looking between them. “What- I- since when-?”

“Oh, just 2 years,” Sprout said, chuckling.

“Yes, do try to keep up, Potter,” McGonagall added dryly. 

“Two years?” Ron blurted. “So  _ this _ is who you were talking about when you said you were seeing someone?”

Hermione broke out of her kiss to grin at them. “Yep.” 

“But why  _ Bellatrix _ ?”

“Do you have a problem with me, Potter?”

“Yeah! You’ve been a right prat these past couple of years, Hermione, why would you want to go out with  _ her _ ?”

“I’ll have you know that I have saved your arse nearly every year at this point, Potter.”

“Wait,  _ what _ ?”

“Who do you think warned Dumbledore about you going after the Stone? Who do you think warned all of the teachers that you were off to fight a Basilisk? Who do you think captured Pettigrew, or warned Dumbledore about Moody in the maze, or saved Sirius’s life when my father hit him with that curse and nearly sent him through a veil?  _ Who do you think fought with you on the night Dumbledore died _ ? Me, that’s who!”

Harry opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Huh?”

Pansy seemed to snap out of a daze. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going out with her?” 

Bellatrix looked uneasy, and Ron perked up. “So you didn’t know either?”

“Who  _ did  _ know?”

More than half of the people in the room said, “Me!”, including Sirius, Neville, Ernie, Cho, Mad-Eye, McGonagall, and Kingsley.

“All of you knew? But- but why?”

“Well, Bella helped out with a lot of stuff for the Order. And Andy’s friends with the Hufflepuffs, and we spent a lot of time in the library, and so the Ravenclaws all knew-”

“And the teachers know everything about the school,” finished McGonagall. “By the way, Pomona, you owe me 2 galleons.”

“Wait, did you  _ bet _ on us?”

“Don’t be so offended, Ms. Black, we bet on everyone’s social lives.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“ _ Anyway _ ,” Sirius said, cutting off whatever McGonagall was going to say. “We’ve got a war going on, people!”

Oh, right. They’d better get on that.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what else didn’t you tell us, Hermione?” 

Hermione sighed, ducking underneath a spell. Even in the middle of the battle, she was being pestered with questions.

“Well, she destroyed the diadem!”

“The what?”

“The Horcrux that was at Hogwarts!”

“You  _ told her _ about the Horcruxes?!”

“We thought there might be a Horcrux at Hogwarts, and I was able to contact someone at Hogwarts!”

“But-”

“Harry, DUCK!”

They leapt behind a bit of castle that had come loose as a giant swung a great club in their direction. “Back into the castle!”

Yes, that seemed like a good idea- the castle, while swarming with Death Eaters, was devoid of giants.

The trio hid behind a crumbling wall, taking a brief respite from the fighting. “Harry!”

“ _ Stupefy! _ Yeah, what’s up, Hermione?”

“We need a plan!”

“You’re the smart one!” Ron called, sending a few stunners into the fray. “Do you have any ideas?”

“We need to go find the Dark Lord, the snake’ll be with him-”

“Do you call him the Dark Lord because of Bellatrix?”

“Yes. Don’t interrupt. Harry, can you try to find him?”

Harry grumbled something about “not a bloody transmission service” (Hermione suspected he was still a bit miffed about keeping an entire relationship hidden from him), but closed his eyes and scrunched up his face in conversation. Hermione and Ron quickened their flurry of spells to cover him.

His eyes flew open. “The Shrieking Shack!”

“Alright, let’s-”

_ Boom _ !

“-go! And quickly!” They ran out of their hiding place, Hermione putting up a shield charm as they crossed the courtyard.

There was a sudden chill in the air, and Hermione was immediately engulfed in a horrible feeling-

  
“Expecto Patronum!” A silvery wisp shot out of her wand, keeping exactly zero of the oncoming dementors at bay. “E-expecto- Harry, help me out here-”

But Harry had a feeling of abject hopelessness on his face, and Hermione got the feeling that he would not be producing a Patronus any time soon. Her vision began to fade around the edges-

“ _ Expecto Patronum! _ ” A chorus of voices around them sounded, and a silvery hare, boar, fox, and cat burst forth and pushed the swarm of dementors back.

She could see a spark of recognition in Harry’s eyes. “You were the one who sent the patronus that night?” he demanded, rounding on Bellatrix, who scowled at him.

“Of course I was, Potter. Didn’t recognize my lovely voice?”

“Come on, Bella, there’s more-”

“MacMillan, if you call me ‘Bella’ one more time-”

“I’m just saying, there’s quite a bit of fighting going on over there, so let’s go!”

“Fine. I’ll see you later, Hermione?” Hermione nodded, hoping that that was true.

They continued heading down to the Whomping Willow, running back out onto the grounds with the acromantula’s and giants, dodging Death Eaters and all manner of magical creatures. 

“ _ Avada Ke _ -”

“ _ Stupefy _ ! Hey, Hermione!”

Hermione saw her life flash before her eyes as Andromeda ducked a volley of killing curses and  _ laughed _ (reminding Hermione of her older sister as she did so). Bellatrix was going to  _ murder _ her.

“Andy, what the hell are you doing? I thought Bulstrode was supposed to get you to the Hogs Head!”

“We knocked her out!” Ted said cheerfully, hexing a Death Eater. “Don’t worry, she’s fine- we just handed her off to some other students.”

“You- wait a second,  _ where’s Narcissa _ ?”

“We made sure she got out! We left her with Zabini!”

Just then, Draco ran by with Goyle and Zabini in tow. Andy looked horrified, and Ted’s face paled. They went off to confront him, and Harry and Ron dragged her off to the Whomping Willow, which was batting aside Death Eaters and Order members alike. 

“Immobulus!” The tree came to a halt, and they slipped down into the hole between the roots.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix cackled as she wove between spells, feeling more alive than she had in months. Despite the horrors of battle, she revelled in the adrenaline rush associated with it, and couldn’t keep the grin off her face as she blasted 3 Death Eaters back through a wall.

MacMillan looked slightly horrified at her gleeful expression, and seemed rather happy that she was on his side. Lovegood was fighting with her usual serene expression, stunning Death Eaters with the same air that she talked about nargles and wrackspurts. Finnegan, well, Finnegan was dueling good-naturedly as he always did, looking a bit stupid as he parried spells with a large grin. 

“ _ Bombarda _ !  _ Stupefy!  _ Fight back, you bloody cowards, fight back!” The Death Eaters were looking slightly reluctant to get anywhere near her, something MacMillan noticed with great glee.

“Ha! Yeah, you better run, scumbags!”

And run they did. They taunted them as they fled the courtyard, and then ran in the other direction to help Sirius and Lupin fight off one of the giants laying waste to the school. There was a mighty crash, and a huge section of the wall started crumbling- right above Sirius, who was too absorbed in a duel to notice.

And Bellatrix, who had always been reckless and hotheaded and entirely too Gryffindor for her liking, ran at him and pushed him out of the way, the falling wall catching her legs as it came down.

Her vision darkened on the sight of Sirius howling for help, the scene of a battle behind him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“... You’re a clever man, Severus. Surely you’ve figured it out?”

Narcissa squeezed her eyes shut as the conversation carried on. She knew she shouldn’t have come here- this was by far the most dangerous thing she’d ever done, much worse than sneaking around in a ballroom or chasing after murderous death eaters. But Abraxas Malfoy had told Severus to go to the Shrieking Shack right in the middle of a battle, which  _ had _ to be important, not to mention that she was still mad at both of her sisters for telling her to go off and hide while the big kids did all the work. She  _ hated _ it when they did that, but that was still no excuse for being so damn reckless.

And now her Professor was probably about to  _ die _ about 6 feet from her at the hands of a man that would murder her in seconds and not bat an eye.

The Dark Lord made a strangled hissing sound that Narcissa recognized as Parseltongue from the times she had listened in on the Death Eater meetings, and there was a horrible thud and a help of pain.

Fear rose up in her chest and she huddled into herself, trying very hard not to imagine what was going on in there. The Dark Lord made another hissing noise, and then there was the distinct  _ pop _ of disapparation.

After waiting for a split second, Narcissa ducked out from where she had been hiding and rushed to the fallen man. He was barely clinging on to consciousness (or life) and had bloody bite marks all over him. Taking a shaky breath, Narcissa pulled out a bit of dittany from her cloak (it could never be said that she wasn’t prepared) and poured it onto the wounds.

“Dear god.”

Narcissa looked up, panicked, at the trio that had just entered the room. Harry knelt down beside her to look at the healing man, who was taking deep breaths to calm himself. When she had done as much as she could, Narcissa collapsed onto the ground, not bothering to hide the fact that she was shaking from head to foot.

Hermione scooped her up in her arms. “What are you doing here?”

“I-I heard Abraxas telling Snape to go meet the Dark Lord here, a-and it s-seemed important, so I d-d-ditched Zabini-”

“You followed me here?” Snape asked disbelievingly. “Do you know how foolish that was?”

Narcissa bit back a sob. “I  _ know _ , but- but I just wanted to- to help-”

“It’s alright. Just- just, let me deal with telling your sister, alright?”

She went still. “Oh, she’ll kill me.”

“Yes, she probably will.”

“Potter.”

They all looked up as Snape got shakily to his feet. “I need to tell you something of utter importance. Nearly 17 years ago, I went to Dumbledore to offer up my services as a spy against the Dark Lord.”

“Yeah, and then you betrayed-”

“Listen, you insolent boy!” Potter’s mouth snapped shut. “Now. When you came to Hogwarts, you were just as insufferable as your father-”

“Who you helped to kill-”

“-  _ but _ I still protected you and saved your life over the years, did I not? The Quidditch game in your first year, the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets in your second. And before your 6th year, Dumbledore cursed himself by touching that blasted ring. I managed to contain the curse, but it would have killed him within a year. And-”

“Then you murdered him!”

“ _ Will you just listen _ ? As I was saying, he knew that Draco had been ordered to kill him, and asked me to do it in his stead. It was because of this that I made the unbreakable vow with Draco’s mother, and it was because of this that I killed him. Before he died, he told me something that I had to tell you.”

“Which was?” Potter looked intrigued now- and, frankly, so was Narcissa. She was leaning forward slightly, in a rare display of emotion.

“The night that the Dark Lord went to Godric’s Hollow to kill you, and was vanquished in the process….” Snape paused, looking reluctant to continue. Next to her, Hermione gasped quietly, looking at Potter with a panicked expression.

“When he killed your mother,” A brief flicker of grief showed on Snape’s face, “and when he tried to kill you, his already unstable soul split a final time.”

Narcissa realized it a split second before Potter did. His eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back. “Me.”

“Yes. You. In order to kill the Dark Lord-”

“He has to die.”

Potter narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her when she said this, and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the same horrifying voice from earlier.

“You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.

“I speak now to you, Harry Potter. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I will enter the fray myself, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour.”

Everyone turned to look at Potter, who had turned an odd pale color. “I’ve got to go.”

“Harry-”

“He’s right,” Snape said. “The Dark Lord must be the one to kill him.”

“On second thought.” They all jumped as the voice reappeared. “I have changed my mind. Harry Potter, do not come to the Forbidden Forest. I have decided that I do not want to kill you after all. All of my Death Eaters, please proceed to the Whomping Willow and allow yourselves to get hit by the branches-”

“Lies! This imposter is telling lies! Do not listen to him!”

“I do not know who this is that is contradicting my mighty orders. I am the Dark Lord of all life, and I command my forces to jump into the lake and try to kill the giant squid! It is he that is my new enemy, not the Potter boy!”

“No! No, do not jump in the lake! I still want to kill Potter! Do not let this fake Voldemort fool you!”

“You are all fools if you think that that other voice is the Dark Lord! I am your real lord, and I say that this attack on Hogwarts is over! I have no desire to rule the wizarding world! All of my Death Eaters shall now try to swim to the bottom of the lake, and I shall run away and join the circus!”

“Is that Sirius?” Hermione asked, furrowing her brow.

Potter looked amused. “Yes, I think it is.”

They sat and listened for a while as the two voices bickered about who the real Dark Lord was, with Sirius coming up with creative ways for the Death Eaters to kill themselves.

“Good, Selwyn! Now jump off that cliff and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!”

“No! Selwyn, don’t you dare jump off that cliff!”

“Is this imposter asking you to question your Lord? This is unacceptable! Crucio!”

“For Merlin’s sake, all of you, get to the Forbidden forest! And don’t listen to this man!”

“Maybe we should get to the Great Hall before he tells them to run and hide in the Shrieking Shack,” Snape suggested. “Some of them are dense enough to listen.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Bella? Bella!”

“Hnng.”

“Bella, wake up!”

Bellatrix groaned, the insistent voice feeling like it was digging into her ears. She just wanted to go back to sleep, although she couldn’t really remember falling-

She sat up so quickly that she smacked heads with the person leaning over her. “The battle! What happened-”

“Bellatrix!”

She waited for her vision to clear (she was rather dizzy), and then looked at the group of people surrounding her. Andy, Cissy, Sirius, Remus, Weaslette, Longbottom, Tonks, MacMillan, Lovegood, Parkinson, Greengrass, and…

“Hermione!”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Just completely ignore us-”

“We don’t mind, really, when you disregard us-”

“Oh, shut up, will you?” Sirius and Weaslette grinned at each other as she glared at them.

“So what happened?”

“Voldemort withdrew his forces. Harry- Harry’s going to meet him in the forest-”

“What?! No!”

“Don’t tell me you actually care what happens to him?”

“I did not spend 7 years of my life saving his sorry arse to have him get himself killed!”

“Bella-”

“And you just  _ let him go _ ? What the hell? We’ve got to go get him out-”

“Bella, please-”

“What are you waiting for, let’s go!”

“He’s a Horcrux, Bella!”

For the first time in a while, Bellatrix was at a loss for words. “He’s a what?”

“What’s a Horcrux?”

“Long story.”

Bellatrix growled in frustration, pulling at her hair. “How did he figure it out?”

“About that-”

“Ms. Black. How good to see you awake.”

Bellatrix choked on air when she saw Severus Snape standing with the other professors. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been a spy for the Order the whole time. I told Potter about the Horcruxes when we were in the Shrieking Shack, the Dark Lord had just tried to kill me with his snake.”

“How did you survive?” When an answer was unforthcoming, Bellatrix gasped. “So you  _ are _ a vampire!”

“Wait, what?”

“I knew it!”

“Bella, he’s not a vampire.”

“He’s not?”

“No. Er- he had access to a bottle of dittany.”

“Oh, damn.”

“Did you really think I was a vampire?”

Hermione grinned. “Oh, yes, she did. For 7 years, actually.”

“Severus, you owe me a galleon. I  _ told _ you some of the students would think you were a vampire.”

“Now is hardly the time, Minerva-”

“Now is a better time than any. After all, we may all very well be dead soon.”

Grumbling, Snape dug around in his pockets and handed her a galleon. “That’s my last one, too. So you better not ask for another one.”

There was a sudden commotion, and people started moving outside, wondering what it was. Hermione, who’s face had gone rather pale, helped Bellatrix to her feet and got them both outside.

“Who’s that?” someone asked. “Who’s that Hagrid’s carrying?”

The procession of Death Eaters stopped. The Dark Lord spread his arms. “Harry Potter is dead!”

McGonagall’s scream of fury was one of the most terrifying sounds Bellatrix had ever heard. Hermione choked back a sob and buried her face in her shoulder. Bellatrix could just make out Potter laying in Hagrid’s arms, and felt a sense of sadness as he was lowered to the ground- odd, as she’d never really cared much for Potter’s wellbeing.

The Dark Lord cast a silencing charm on the crowd. “Harry Potter is dead!” he called again. The Death Eaters jeered at them, all but one- Mrs. Malfoy, who looked almost  _ smug _ as they celebrated the death….

Voldemort started talking, asking people to come over to his side, the rightful side, where they would be rewarded (read: Crucio’d and possibly killed). Her head snapped up when she heard her father’s voice.

“Andromeda! Narcissa! Come over here, now.”

So he hadn’t seen her yet. Maybe he thought she’d died in the battle. Maybe he thought she’d left with the rest of Slytherin House. It was very likely that he simply didn’t care.

“Fuck you!” Oh, bless her stupid, reckless heart. Andromeda was holding tight to Tonks’ hand and glaring at Cygnus with an arrogant look that Bellatrix was sure she had gotten from her. Next to her, Narcissa looked slightly less sure of herself, but stood her ground and drew herself up, shaking her head.

Cygnus was not happy about this. “Get away from that filthy mudblood and get over here! At least your sister had the good sense not to get mixed up with that sort.”

“Oh, you mean that sister?”

Bellatrix basked in the glory of rendering her father completely speechless when he saw her not only holding hands with, but practically wrapped around the most wanted muggle-born in the country, standing firmly with the rest of the school. Voldemort laughed. “Well, it seems all the Blacks are blood-traitors. Let’s see, what ab-  _ Severus _ ?” Voldemort actually looked stunned at the sight of Snape on the other side, surrounded by his colleagues. “You  _ traitor _ !”

“That’s right!” Sprout said. “And proud of it, too, eh, Severus?”

“Indeed.”

Voldemort sent a curse at him, which McGonagall deflected. With a cry of outrage, Longbottom charged at Voldemort. 

Almost carelessly, Voldemort disarmed him and sent him to the ground. “Who is this? Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?”

Cygnus seemed to regain his composure. “Neville Longbottom, my Lord. He’s been giving the Carrows a lot of trouble this year. The son of the aurors I tortured all those years ago.”

“Ah, yes. But you are a pureblood, aren’t you, my brave boy?”

“So what if I am?” Neville demanded.

“You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom.”

“I’ll join you when hell freezes over. Dumbledore’s Army!”

Bellatrix found that she was able to speak again, and shouted out encouragement (something she would never do under normal circumstances, but these weren’t normal times).

“Very well.” Voldemort’s voice sent a shiver down her spine. “”If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head be it.”

He summoned a tattered object from inside the castle- the sorting hat. “There will be no more sorting at Hogwarts. From now on, the emblem and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suit everyone just fine, won’t they, Neville Longbottom?”

Bellatrix watched in horror as Neville was frozen in place, the sorting hat placed on his head, a far cry from the round faced boy that had sat under it 7 years ago. The hat caught fire, and the Death Eaters cast spells holding the crowd back, all unable to help….

And then so many things happened at once that Bellatrix had trouble keeping track. Arrows descended on the Death Eaters, causing them to break apart into chaos. Grawp the Giant roared, “Hagger!”, and there was a cry as a wave of reinforcements broke through the castle’s fallen walls.

Taking up the cry, Bellatrix followed the flow of people into the Great Hall.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Hall was a chaotic mess.

It was jam packed with people, house elves, and centaurs. Spells were flying everywhere, bodies were falling to the ground, and the floor was slick with blood. Bellatrix was not doing much to help- she was fighting with a vengeance, throwing around slicing curses and bombardas like they were candy. 

Of course, there was a pattern to the madness- she couldn’t be expected to  _ not _ take advantage of the chaos to exact some well-earned revenge. Ducking under Antonin Dolohov, who had been thrown backwards and through the window by the Big Weaslette (Mary? Mable?), she headed towards where MacMillan was dueling Scabior and losing. He narrowly missed MacMillan with a killing curse, and even Bellatrix couldn’t deny the flash of rage she felt at that. She took him down with a quick Sectumsempra.

Death Eaters were starting to flee in earnest now, and Bellatrix liked to think that this was due, at least in part, to her. She was well aware that she made a terrifying image- she was covered in blood (only some of it hers for a change), her already wild hair was practically sticking up off of her head, and there was energy crackling around her that she told herself was a sign of her magical talent but was probably just pure  _ rage _ . She’d been waiting a long time for this.

She was startled out of dueling Greyback by a blast to the ground right next to her, sending her flying into a nearby wall and leaving Longbottom to take over her duel for her, wielding a sword instead of a wand and looking nearly as terrifying as she did.

Groaning, she got up, and then froze.

Rodolphus and Hermione were locked in a duel, Hermione dancing around his spells, hair flying wildly. Bellatrix was just peeling herself off of the wall (god, that  _ hurt _ , but she’d had worse, and there was a battle to be fought) when Hermione was thrown into the opposite wall. Bellatrix, seized with panic, made her way over.

And the  _ bloody bastard _ strode over and knelt down and  _ laid a hand on her Hermione. _

“ _ Crucio!” _

Rodolphus screamed, and she hit him with a slicing curse. “ _ No one touches her!” _ More screaming. “ _ Especially not a pervy- little- piece- of-” _

“ _ Expeliarmus _ !”

Oh, shit.

She backed up to the wall. “Nice try,  _ Bella _ . Don’t worry, I’ll make it fast, Merlin knows I can’t stand to look at you for any longer.”

Her back hit the wall.

She flattened herself to the ground to avoid a bright green curse, then rolled to the side when he sent another one at her. Scrambling to her feet, she looked desperately on the ground for a fallen wand.

“Black!” She caught an image of Longbottom out of the corner of her eye, tossing something long and silver….

….and just as Rodolphus sent one last killing curse, she caught the sword of Gryffindor, deflected the spell, and drove it into his heart.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione watched as Bellatrix plunged a sword (she wasn’t entirely sure where she’d gotten it from, she suspected Neville, but whether or not he’d given it up willingly was a completely different matter) into Rodolphus’ chest, and the only thing she could think was  _ good riddance. _ It was horrible, she knew, but Rodolphus was a horrible person, so it cancelled out, right? Bellatrix pulled the sword out, watching Rodolphus fall to the ground with a sort of detached satisfaction. She turned towards Hermione (and, god, she knew they were in the middle of a battle but damn did she want to kiss her right now), and seemed to be about to walk towards her when Ted Tonks flew by them, smashed into a wall, then got back up just in time to stop Andy from hitting her head.

Bellatrix turned her head sharply, eyes narrowing when she caught sight of Cygnus smirking at his fallen opponents. Screaming with rage, she dropped the sword, grabbed her wand, and, pushing aside the people who had come to help, she leapt forward to duel him.

This duel was much more evenly matched- Bellatrix was a very skilled witch (though Hermione might be a bit biased) for her age, and Cygnus was already tired. At this point, theirs was one of two duels going on- Voldemort was fighting McGonagall, Kingsley, Slughorn and Snape with only minor difficulty. People lined the walls, watching, including Hermione, who had tried to join the fight but had been pushed back by Bellatrix’s insistence that she leave him to her.

But Bellatrix was slowing down, only casting the occasional offensive spell and sticking mostly to shield charms. A hex found its way through, and the cut it formed in her side was bleeding freely.

Hermione slid her wand back into her hand, ready to join the fight no matter what Bella said, when she spotted Narcissa from across the room. She was watching the fight with great concentration, muttering something under her breath, waiting to make a move. 

When she did, it was a simple “Stupefy” (Narcissa, as a third year, did not have a very diverse set of spells to choose from), but it did the trick. Cygnus caught it out of the corner of his eye at the last minute, catching him off guard for a brief second. He blocked it, and sent a curse her way, forgetting his other duel momentarily. Bellatrix, never one to let an opportunity like this pass her by, leapt on his momentary distraction.

“ _ Avada Kedavra _ !”

Cygnus didn’t have time to block the spell, preoccupied with Narcissa. The only indication he gave that he realized what was about to happen was the slight widening of his eyes before he toppled to the ground. 

Voldemort yelled in fury as his last standing Death Eater was brought down by someone who was supposed to be on his side, and blasted back the four fighting him. He raised his wand to rain hell down on Bellatrix.

“ _ Protego _ !” Hermione leapt out from her place, joining her shielding charm with one more….

“Harry!”

“HE’S ALIVE!”

“Potter!”

Hermione grabbed Bella by the arm and dragged her back as Harry and Voldemort faced off in the middle of the hall. Harry taunted Voldemort with the mere fact that he had survived the killing curse for the second time. Hermione could feel his rising fury as Harry went on to talk about the elder wand, how it wasn’t his, even if he had managed to kill Snape.

And then, the rising tensions broke, red and green spells meeting in the middle.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bellatrix was going to kill her sisters.

She knew that might disrupt their whole “post-victory” mood, but she didn’t care. She had  _ specifically _ told them to go with Bulstrode and leave Hogwarts grounds, how hard was that to understand? But  _ nooo _ , they just  _ had _ to knock Bulstrode out and then Andy left Cissy with  _ Blaise Zabini _ of all people, who  _ of course _ immediately ditched her in favor of helping Draco (who she was also going to murder, she decided, for endangering her sister’s life), leaving Cissy to  _ run after Snape and the Dark Lord _ , which was quite possibly the stupidest thing she’d ever done, certainly outdoing anything Andy had done and  _ almost _ outdoing Bellatrix’s Many Acts of Insanity, as Hermione liked to call them. 

Unfortunately for her, her sisters were nowhere to be seen. The bloody cowards, in a very Slytherin move, had asked Hermione to tell her the news. They knew she would take out her anger on any other messenger  _ except _ for Hermione, because she would never hurt Hermione,  _ ever _ , but she had helped hide her sisters from her wrath and so Bellatrix was left to stew in her anger.

Of course, there were good things to come out of that battle. One of these was the obvious- the Dark Lord was dead, Potter victorious, and Death Eaters disbanded. This also meant that politically, any “traditional” pureblood ideas would be thrown into question, something Bellatrix very much appreciated, as it meant that perhaps she wouldn’t be disowned from her family for going off with a girl, muggle born no less.

Second was that her two least favorite people had also died in the battle. She took great joy in committing Rodolphus’s death to memory, the slight widening of his eyes before she stabbed him with a sword (which Longbottom was hogging right now, which she supposed was alright, because chopping the snake’s head off had admittedly been a cool move). The crucios had definitely been fun too- not that she would ever tell anyone that, because they would probably think she was crazy, but  _ come on _ , she was allowed to gloat over finally managing to cause him a little pain.

She still couldn’t decide, though, which one she hated the most. She was also very pleased about Cygnus’s death, especially because he’d been lording over her for her entire life, and it was  _ his fault _ that she’d had to deal with Rodolphus in the first place. Besides, the look on his face when he realized she’d beat him because of one little distraction (another thing she was going to kill Cissy over, she was so goddamned  _ reckless _ ) was priceless. The only thing she regretted about his dying was that he would not be going to Azkaban- both for torturing the Longbottoms (which there was no getting out of, even for him) and (if she had had her way) for using the Cruciatus Curse on  _ her _ her whole life, which had never really been seen as illegal as long as one was a pureblood. Would’ve been nice to set a precedent. But, as Hermione said, one just couldn’t have everything.

After the battle, and after Hermione had very gently told her of her sister’s reckless behavior, she left with Potter and Weasley to finish off some loose threads. When they finally came back, she stalked over to them.

Weasley looked terrified, and Potter didn’t seem to know what to think of her. Well, that just wouldn’t do. It was always good to instill a healthy fear of her into other people.

And so she hit him.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Being an idiot.”

And she hit him again.

“What was  _ that _ for?”

“Going to get yourself killed when I have spent a large portion of my life trying to keep that from happening, you noble, reckless idiot!”

And then she hit Weasley.

“What did I do?”

“Nothing. I just felt like hitting you.”

“Gee, thanks, Bellatrix.”

She and Potter stared at each other for a long time before he stuck out his hand. “We’ll meet later, yeah? You’ll have to tell me all about those life-saving incidents you keep talking about.”

She considered him for a moment, before giving a grudging nod and taking his hand. “Sounds good, Potter. Now will you two excuse me so I can talk to my girlfriend in peace?”

They grinned widely and left to talk to other friends (she was surprised, as it seemed like Potter only had the two friends sometimes), leaving her alone with Hermione for the first time in a year.

“Shall we?”

Smiling, Bellatrix took her hand, and followed her out onto the grounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this story! there will, as you can probably see, be one more chapter, probably an epilogue of sorts.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter!!! Thank you all so much for making it through this story.
> 
> i don't own harry potter

Epilogue:

“There they are!”

“Uncle Harry!”

“Weaslette!”

“ _ Bellatrix, I swear to god _ -”

“Calm down, Ginevra, you’ll scare the kids. Not my fault she calls you that.”

“You told her to do it!”

Hermione groaned as her wife of 15 years now bickered with her best friend. Bellatrix, after several very long years, had finally stopped calling Ginny “Weaslette” and had moved on to the not-quite-perfect-but-much-improved “Ginevra”. To Ginny’s chagrin and great annoyance, Bellatrix had passed her completely ridiculous notions of calling everyone she wasn’t extremely close with by their last names to their eldest daughter.

“Delphini, did I tell you to call your Aunt Ginevra ‘Weaslette’?” Bellatrix asked.

“Yes,” she proclaimed proudly, before greeting James, who was only a year younger and had been deemed the least annoying of her many cousins. Of course, by Delphi’s standards, ‘least annoying’ meant ‘most mischievous and most likely to aid me in my pranks’. She had also inherited her mother’s proclivity for getting herself into the most reckless and frankly ridiculous situations possible, although she had made a habit of creating those situations herself when the ones available didn’t quite meet her standards for chaos. She hadn’t, thankfully, inherited Bella’s wild curls, as it would have been a chore to get her to sit still long enough to comb it. She had gotten blissfully straight, black hair- they were pretty sure that she had gotten it from her Aunt Cissy (who had to be around here somewhere in all this fog with Lucius and Scorpius). The most ‘Bella’ thing about Delphini was in her stance- the one all purebloods seemed to have, and when she wanted to, she radiated arrogance. Her eyes threw off the image, as they were the only thing she inherited from Hermione.

Her other daughter, on the other hand, had bushy and most importantly  _ curly _ brown hair that was  _ impossible _ to tame- she hadn’t thought it possible to have hair more difficult than hers, but apparently a combination of hers and Bella’s did the trick. Rose Black was a much quieter child than her sister, and was waiting to board her first train to Hogwarts with a sort of nervous excitement. It was strange, but Rose seemed to have traits that were neither Black nor Granger. While Hermione had never been quite as reckless as Bella, she wasn’t afraid to break the rules. Rose was never reckless, never impulsive- Hermione knew she didn’t get it from her side of the family, and she  _ definitely _ didn’t get it from Bella’s, who claimed it was Luna’s calming influence that made the child like she was- the two of them got on rather well.

“Mum, Mother, it’s Aunt ‘Dromeda!”

Hermione turned to greet Andy and Ted, who were walking arm in arm down the platform. “Hey! Dora’s going to be here in a moment, she spilled her trunk all over the floor, told us to go on without her-”

“I’m here! I’m here, hello everyone, how are you?”

Nymphadora Tonks (or just ‘Tonks’ as she liked to be called, Hermione privately agreed with Bella’s assessment that Andy had terrible taste in names), at 17, was the most clumsy person Hermione knew, including her own daughter. It came as no surprise to her that the girl had spilled her belongings everywhere- it had happened before, and would undoubtedly happen again. Bellatrix looked fondly at her goddaughter, ruffling her hair (something Dora claimed she hated, though Hermione very much doubted that) and grinning widely at her sister. “Have you seen Cissy? We’ve only got a few minutes to 11, you know. It’s not like her to be late.”

“Perhaps she’s gotten sidetracked by the fog. You know Cissy, she’ll hate what it does to her hair.”

“Oh, you two are just  _ awful _ , you know that? And I’m not late, Bella, we’ve got 15 minutes!”

Cissy (Hermione had only started calling her this a little before hers and Bella’s wedding) embraced her sisters and Hermione and shook hands with Harry and Ginny, who were getting Albus situated with his things. Hermione was rather excited at the prospect of all of their children being at Hogwarts at once- it would only be for one year, and then Dora would be graduating, but it would be nice while it lasted.

Scorpius immediately went to talk to Albus as Harry and Hermione tried to gather everyone together, Harry looking for their eldest children and Hermione searching the crowd for a glance of red hair. She thought she found one, but it turned out to be Percy, who Bella hated with a passion- she decided she wouldn’t call out for the sake of her sanity, and looked on. She also spotted Ernie MacMillan, and considered getting his attention, but she wasn’t really in the mood to talk to Ernie (they were good friends, but he was still extremely pompous) and she would see him in a week when he, Bella, and Neville went out for drinks anyway. Finally, her eyes fell on Fred and George, and she prayed that Bella wouldn’t see….

“Oi! George! Freddie! Over here!” At Bella’s beckoning, the twins made their way over with their families.

After the war, Bella had bonded with the twins- she had saved one of their lives, and then they went to thank her, and she congratulated them on being brilliant pranksters, and it snowballed from there. It gave Hermione a headache whenever they got together- it was a constant betting game of what they would cook up next. Even in her 30’s (and approaching 40 quicker than she’d like to admit), Bella couldn’t resist the opportunity to cause chaos. 

Ron found them a couple of minutes later, Lavender in tow. After the war, when Lavender had mellowed out a bit and Ron had grown up a little, they had fit as more than just a pair of teenagers snogging in the corridors, though it took them a while to figure that out. Their kids weren’t quite old enough to be going to Hogwarts, but they still made the trip- the last time they would all be getting together on the platform. 

They all greeted Ron, Bellatrix sparing him a nod and the customary, “Weasley” before going back to whatever horrible schemes she was cooking up with Fred and George, Delphi and James listening in carefully and probably taking mental note of everything they said. Bella and Ron had never been the best of friends- sure, they were civil, and had their moments, but when all was said and done, he was still, “Weasley” and she was still, “Black” and that suited them just fine.

Hermione started helping Rose get her things onto the train and into a compartment. She was sitting with Albus and Scorpius- Delphi had said that under no circumstances was she to go anywhere near her in school, for fear of her reputation being ruined (of course, like her mother, she was all bluster and would probably go running to help Rose the minute she called for it).

“Alright. Now, don’t forget to owl us- Minerva’s probably going to find a way to tell us before you can what house you’re in, but mention it anyway- “

“And try not to give your Uncle Severus too much trouble like your sister or he’ll send me about a million owls about it,” Bella added.

Ginny joined in, dragging their other children in. “And make sure you give Neville our love-”

“Mum! I can’t just walk into Herbology and give a professor  _ love _ !” James complained.

“Yeah, and he isn’t ‘Uncle Neville’ at school, he’s Professor Longbottom! And how do you give someone love, anyway? Are we supposed to hug him? Hand him a big, hairy, heart?”

“That’s enough, Delphi. All of you have been invited to Hagrid’s on Friday, doesn’t matter what time just please stop by and say hello. Delphi, he’s asking me to tell you to please not try to make his classes ‘interesting’, he appreciates your spirit but even Hagrid thinks explosions combined with hippogriffs on the loose is a dangerous situation.”

“Still think it was brilliant,” Bella muttered.

“It was not.”

“Sure.” Hermione decided to ignore Bella winking at their daughter and mouthing, “it was”. She had to pick her battles with them.

“Send us a Hogwarts toilet seat!” Fred and George called as they started boarding.

“Yeah, just don’t let McGonagall catch you-”

“-or we’ll have to act like responsible adults-”

“-and ask grandmum to send you a howler-”

“Alright, you two, that’s enough. Have fun- be safe- and by god don’t steal a toilet seat! Delphi? Delphini Black!”

Her daughter only giggled and waved as she got onto the train, going off to find her friends. Hermione shook her head and linked arms with Bella, who was waving to her daughters through the train windows.

As the kids started leaving, shouting last minute goodbyes and getting into compartments, people began dropping the facades put on for their kids and whispering and pointing at the large group standing near the train. Hermione supposed she couldn’t blame them- all three members of the Golden trio plus their wives, not to mention the fame they’d all gathered in the 19 years after the war. Bella was Head Auror, Hermione a high up Ministry employee, and Ginny a famous Quidditch Player. And that wasn’t even taking into account the fact that three of them were from the Black family, Andy and Bella having been involved in the biggest “scandals” in the pureblood world that generation- marrying muggle borns, one of them even being a girl.

Albus, hanging out of a window, asked, “Why are they all  _ staring _ ?”

“It’s me,” said Ron. “I’m extremely famous.”

Hermione privately thought that Bella hadn’t needed to laugh  _ quite _ that hard.

The train began pulling away from the platform, kids sticking arms and heads out to wave goodbye to their parents. Rose was pressing her nose up against the window, looking much like Hermione had on her first day- excited to be off to school, but absolutely terrified at the prospect of leaving her parents for so long a time.

Hermione waved until the train was out of sight. Bella squeezed her hand.

“They’ll be alright.”

Hermione felt herself relax at the truth of that, and gave Bella a reassuring smile. There was nothing, really, to worry about- no Dark Lords trying to take over the school, no evil Death Eaters disguised as Defense professors, no toady Ministry officials to torture the students.

All was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it kinda resembles canon (ew, I know), but it's gayer so therefore it's okay ;D  
> Again, thank you all for reading! I will be taking requests for one shots in the comments


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